


The Hardest Mission Of Them All

by bluepulsebluepulse



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bart Allen - Freeform, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes - Freeform, Bluepulse, Hope you enjoy, It begins with recap of canon but bluepulse blended into it, Jaime Reyes - Freeform, M/M, Oh yeh and I typed this on my phone, Serious angst but adorable fluff to so its one heck of a rollercoaster, Serious focus on mental illness because its important imo, So there may be minor grammatical errors but should be fine, So umm first ever fic, Some minor graphic violence i guess, Speedbuggy, Varying Chapter Lengths, and then it becomes pure imagination, but second posted, long slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 20:02:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19216519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluepulsebluepulse/pseuds/bluepulsebluepulse
Summary: My first ever written fanfic for all my favorite BluePulse peoples! It is really long so I don't blame you for not wanting to read it ahaha. I just wanted to say thank you for providing me with so much good bluepulse content of any kind! I wrote this to celebrate the freedom that is still being able to ship these two together before YJO probably ruins that by placing one or both of them in a relationship that is not them together. But yeh, if you're bored, feel free to give this a read!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [khaki_da](https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaki_da/gifts), [Barkour](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barkour/gifts), [orphan_account (zanily)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanily/gifts), [PaintingWithDarkness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintingWithDarkness/gifts), [CamelotQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CamelotQueen/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy! Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you thought!

“Wow. I’m really here”, Bart thought to himself as he looked out of the window of the time machine that had just taken him back to the past. You’d expect him to have been wracked with unimaginable fear not knowing when or where he could have ended up in that time machine. Bart knew there was always a risk involved with time travelling given that if so much as one parameter was off with the vessel’s programming, he could not only end up in the wrong time, he could end up not existing at all. But given the horrors his life had currently amounted too, death didn’t scare him anymore.

He peered out to see Nightwing and two other figures who he couldn’t quite see through the tiny window. A rush of relief came over him as he now knew he was in the right place, at the right time. He had a shot. To change it all. To save the world. No pressure.

He pulled down his goggles before jumping out suddenly exclaiming “Ta-da!” marking the official beginning of his return to the past.

Clearly startled by the surprise machine and human that emerged from it, Nightwing was already in full battle mode and was ready to take on anything.

After some of Bart’s shenanigans embarrassing the clearly outmatched Tim and Garfield, Nightwing finally subdued Bart with a strong blow to the chest. Bart could have easily avoided it had he’d been paying attention but he was caught up in the euphoric rush of being free of his own time. Free of the Reach. He didn’t even really feel any pain as he went crashing to the floor.

It was all he could do to not laugh upon being cuffed knowing he could have escaped straight away, or at any point during the entire interrogation that followed shortly after. After escaping because he was wasting valuable time when he had a mission he was eager to begin, because you know, the fate of the whole world was at stake, he decided to run to the Allen family home to meet his family.

Tears formed in his eyes as he ran because he hadn’t felt the warm embrace of a hug or even the presence of a family member in so long. It may have only been a few seconds of running but it felt like a lot longer. He quickly wiped away his tears, jumped around a bit and fixed himself up before boldly busting in through the front door to introduce himself to his family.

He felt his body tremble with excitement seeing some faces he knew would soon love him with every fiber of their being (once they knew who he was). He hadn’t initially considered the whole having to prove his identity thing, but that worked out soon enough. He was busy basking in his family and enjoying their love and acceptance of him upon Nightwing’s confirmation of Bart’s DNA being an exact match to Barry’s, but he had a mission still and had to remain focused.

After establishing accommodation there, and putting down roots, he finally felt ready. Ready to confront Jaime Reyes. The man behind the mask of the monster that was Blue Beetle. The Monster who was responsible for countless heinous acts.

Bart had to physically shake his head to stop the memories from bleeding back into his consciousness. He didn’t know what to expect. He wasn’t sure whether Jaime even had the beetle yet, whether he was on mode or not.

Bart used his connections with his family to get him officially added to the team. Tim and Garfield were the ones who reluctantly showed Bart around the cave upon his orientation. They were still both irritated by how Impulse had escaped both of their efforts to capture him and because he had had too much fun whilst doing so.

Tim was suspicious of how Blue Beetle seemed to come into the conversation slightly more than all other members of the team. Bart passed it off as excitement to become acquainted with the last member of the team he hadn’t met yet when questioned about it. Tim made a mental note to talk to Nightwing about his suspicions of Bart later. They had just reached the lockers which were the second to last stop of the tour before the grotto. Tim and Garfield let Bart know they were going on ahead while Bart checked out his locker and placed his supplies in it. They pointed in the direction of the grotto and told him to join once he was done.

Bart had just finished putting his stuff on his not yet labeled locker when he realized all the other lockers had name tags up the top. His height probably attributed to the lack of initially observing them in the first place he told himself when he noticed. He scanned the entire row in under a second and stopped, his sneakers creating a screech sound on the ground as he came to a sudden stop once spotting Jaime Reyes.

He wanted to see what was in his locker so he simply vibrated his head so that he could phase through the locker door and peek inside. He saw some Spanish books, a skateboard, helmet, cell phone, a photo on the wall of the locker of Jaime and his family and a packet of Chicken Whizzies. Bart phased his right hand through the locker beside and in to Jaime’s locker to grab the bag of chips. He loved Chicken Whizzies! Wally had given him some back during their initial meeting as the Allen’s weren’t prepared for the unexpected speedster and junk food was all they had.

Bart rushed down to the grotto and stopped at the top of the stairs when he spotted him. It was Jaime Reyes. Bart knew from the photo. He gulped. Before he could take the time to over think things and start freaking out, he rushed over to stand just behind the other three boys standing there paying their respects. He started munching on the chips to get Jaime’s attention but funnily enough eating calmed his nerves. They all shot him a deadly glare after spinning around so quickly at the unexpected crunch that even Bart was impressed.

And there he was. Jaime Reyes. He was staring straight at him now. Bart saw the face of the Blue Beetle of his time flash over young Jaime and freaked out. He shoved another handful in his mouth taking a breath as he did to calm himself before he was suddenly being pulled along by Jaime by his arm. His blood pressure instantly shot up at the touch of Jaime grabbing his arm. He started to freak out and then Jaime started in on him.

“You stole those freeze dried Chicken Whizzies from my locker didn’t you?” Jaime accused angrily.

Bart knew instantly that Jaime was not on mode, knowing that had he been, he would not care about such trivial matters. Knowing how the Reach thought and operated from his timelie, Bart knew this was just something even the Reach couldn’t pass off as regular human behavior.

Bart went on to explain that where, or more rather when he is from, it was scavenger’s rights. Jaime had actually been informed about Bart Allen the new speedster from the future, the gossip amongst the team spread like wildfire. Jaime took a breath himself trying to remain calm and be friendly given that this guy in front of him was from a different time and he didn’t know what his circumstances were.

Jaime was still angry about the food so he happily redirected his anger towards the justice league when Bart questioned him about the memorial holograms being located in the grotto. Jaime was actually impressed that someone other than himself had finally voiced an opinion that he had felt nobody else had. Before Jaime knew it Bart was asking him to hang out, Jaime was quite thrown aback and didn’t expect this sudden invitation, but accepted after realizing he didn’t really have any close friends, not any who knew about him being Blue Beetle anyway.

“Uhh sure”, he mumbled thinking to himself that this would just be a simple hang which would help distract him from the boredom he was feeling that day.

He resisted the urge to rub his temples out of frustration upon Bart asking if he had any money knowing full well he’d cop the bill.

They had walked to a local diner which was virtually empty. Bart didn’t mind that it was quiet, he wanted to talk to Jaime and get to know him better without any distractions.

“Where should we sit?” Bart inquired.

“Personally I like the booths. They’re more comfortable than chairs”.

Bart hurried over to the cleanest booth which had calming natural lighting as it was right along a window. Jaime followed and sat down opposite to him. Jaime sighed annoyed with himself when he realized that he’d just sat down and gotten comfortable and they didn’t have menus. He couldn’t spot a waitress either. Bart noticed Jaime was looking around and asked, “What are you looking for?”

“Menus so we can pick something to order. I’ll get up and see if I can find-”

“Oh. I’ll grab some!” he said cheerily before using his super speed to search the restaurant looking for menus before returning back before Jaime could blink twice with a menu for each of them.

“Dude! You shouldn’t use your powers out of uniform!” Jaime said with concern but not anger given Bart was clearly new to the whole superhero thing.

“Oh. Sorry. I forgot. I’m a superhero now.” Bart said softly as he pondered the words he’d just said out aloud for the first time. He was a superhero. It felt weird calling himself one. He didn’t feel like one. He was deep in thought when he was pleasantly surprised by Jaime who asked him a question bringing him back to reality.

Jaime was smiling, still appreciative of how Bart had saved him from getting up to go find the menus since he was exhausted.

“Sorry aha. Could you repeat that. My mind was somewhere else?” Bart chuckled.

“Tell me about yourself Bart!” Jaime repeated enthusiastically.

Bart’s face dropped a bit when he started to consider telling the truth which is what he was accustomed to. He had almost forgotten that he wasn’t revealing anything about the Jaime or Blue Beetle portion of his future. He immediately tried to hide the drop in his face by overcompensating with a ridiculously big grin and then suddenly responding with, “Umm… You know. I’m just a speedster. My favorite color is red, if you couldn’t tell.” He winked at Jaime.

He then receded into his chair his face clearly showing concern that Jaime would have likely noticed his overacting. Jaime laughed when he spotted Bart’s facial expression of questioning his wink not knowing whether people of the past did that or not. Bart grinned and turned his face to the window so that he wouldn’t have to see Jaime’s reaction. He was worried he had freaked out Jaime and that he was blowing his mission.

It was then that Jaime noticed the oddest thought pass through the back of his mind. “He is cute.” he thought to himself referring to his nervous behavior and the cheeky wink. He started focusing on Bart, noticing his captivating smile, and his green eyes that caught the light making them sparkle. He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when a waitress abruptly blurted towards them, “Hi! What can I get for you two today?”

It startled him and he jumped in his chair a bit. She apologized for startling him. Bart then asked, “So I just pick whatever I want off this menu right?”. Jaime began nodding but got distracted by Khaji Da who began speaking to him.

“I have been compiling behavioral data on this Impulse; he appears to be hiding a secret. Recommended tactic, evisceration.” the bug hissed.

“Everyone has secrets! And I’m most certainly not going to -”

Jaime realized both Bart and the waitress were looking at him with that classic look of confusion bordering on concern for his mental stability. It was a look he knew too well. To try and distract them from the awkwardness lurking in the air, he dismissively said, “I’ll just have a bowl of chips thanks.” The waitress nodded but also gave Bart a look of concern too which Jaime thought to be odd when he noticed.

Again, before he could wonder why the waitress looked at Bart as if he had been talking to his own personal scarab, he found himself being questioned about exactly just that. Jaime explained the whole bug situation to Bart who listened very intently. Jaime was surprised and could tell Bart was genuinely interested in every word he said, that was until the food came out. The waitress placed five trays piled up with food on the table. Jaime immediately looked at the waitress and exclaimed, “We didn’t order all of this? I think you’ve got the wrong table.”

“Nope! Your pal over here ordered all of this, well except for the fries, they were for you.”

She spun around quickly and took off not wanting to have a dispute with the dark haired boy. He rotated his head slowly with his mouth gaping open until it was facing Bart. Bart continued to chow down all his food in a matter of seconds forgetting about the whole not using your powers in public thing and it was only when he finished that he realized Jaime had been staring at him the whole time and hadn’t even touched his fries yet. “Uh… Jaime?” Bart said confused.

“That’s- What- Why did you order so much food?” Jaime stuttered in disbelief.

“I was hungry. Plus I’m a speedster. We eat A LOT!” Bart said proudly whilst emphasizing the end of the sentence.

When Jaime gave it some thought, he remembered he was already aware of how much speedsters ate from observing Wally in the cave. Even though Jaime knew Bart was a speedster, it hadn’t yet clicked until this moment.

The waitress had soon returned to share in his shocked expression noticing that all of Bart’s plates were picked clean. She tilted her head sideways in confusion, placed the bill on the table and walked away still staring at all those empty plates until she went around the corner again. Jaime looked down and saw the bill.

“DIOS MIO!”, he shouted.

Bart innocently chuckled and Jaime placed his forehead against the table out of devastation knowing full well he’d have to explain the missing money to his parents later. They left the diner after Jaime had finished his chips. They didn’t really speak too much between Jaime eating his chips. Jaime was too distracted trying to concoct a believable explanation for his parents.

They stood outside the diner and Bart was getting ready to walk back with Jaime to the cave when he got a text. Bart whipped out his primitive phone which Iris had given to him in an effort to keep tabs on him. It didn’t take long for Bart to figure out how to use it when she first gave it to him. Sure it was old but technology hadn’t evolved as much as most would have been surprised to learn. The text was from Iris asking Bart to come back home, she had invited more of the family over to meet Bart. Bart really wanted to walk back with Jaime but he was eager to meet even more of his family.

“Sorry I have to go home. Are you okay walking back on your own?”, Bart asked.

Jaime was touched by Bart’s concern. He responded, “Yeh of course.”

“Thanks for lunch Jaime!” Bart blurted before wrapping his arms around Jaime in a friendly hug.

Jaime was caught completely off guard and blushed bright red when he realized the younger boy was hugging him. Before Jaime could question Bart about the hug or even begin to respond to Khaji Da who had been immediately triggered by the hug, Bart was gone leaving only a gust of cold wind that helped cool his flustered cheeks. He stood there completely bewildered.

Bart was pretty shocked himself, he knew it was a necessary act to help clench the friendship, which wasn’t entirely an act for him. Bart genuinely cared about Jaime because it was in his good nature. Plus there was just something about Jaime Bart found himself drawn to. He genuinely wanted to become friends with Jaime. It was a new feeling he wasn’t used to. But he was experiencing a lot of new ones; Bart couldn’t begin to describe how weird it felt hugging the boy who would one day be his greatest fear. He let the thoughts melt away as he ran and cleared his mind while Jaime did the exact opposite on his walk back to the cave.


	2. Chapter 2

Some time had passed and Bart and Jaime were spending a lot of time with one another. Jaime didn’t mind too much because when he didn’t find Bart mind-blowingly irritating, which wasn’t very often, he found Bart really fun to be around. Yet he still felt like the two of them had a friendship that had an almost professional feel to it. Bart felt like a work friend. Which he essentially was but Jaime wanted to make the friendship feel a little more, for a lack of a better word, chilled.

He wasn’t all that fond of calling Bart by his first name so he decided to come up with a nickname. It didn’t take long before he settled on one and got the opportunity to use it for the first time. Speaking of first times, he had just opened the front door to the chime of the doorbell to reveal a plucky Bart standing their in full costume outside his house. He wasn’t even sure how Bart knew where he lived.

“Dude! What are you doing?”, he protested.

“I’m here to hang. Here to chill. Spend a little downtime with my  buddy Blue, BB, Blue Beetle, The Bee-tel. Ya know! Chill-hangin…”, Bart said as cool as a refrigerator.

After quickly suiting up and flying away to shut down the situation, Jaime noticed that it seemed Bart was trying to find a nickname for him too. Out of the list he had just heard before taking off, he had liked “Blue” the best. He didn’t let it show on his face but he marveled in amazement given the coincidental timing that they had both seemed to have regarding seeking out a nickname for one another. “Is it possible? Are Bart and I… in sync with each other”, Jaime thought to himself. It filled him with a sense of delight feeling connected with his new friend.

They soon arrived in the El Paso desert. Jaime knew there wouldn’t be anybody around to gawk at them there. It didn’t take long before Bart, unbeknownst to Jaime, had intentionally riled him up. Jaime immediately wanting to show off and impress his new friend blew up a rock to show off his powers. Bart giggled internally at how easy it was to get under Jaime’s skin and manipulate him in the playful way friends tease each other from time to time. Bart although impressed with the first boulder Jaime had blown up, pretended he wasn’t, and yawned before mocking, “Is that the best you can do?”

Jaime who felt like he was now underperforming immediately spotted a rock twice as large as the first one and quickly shot a well aimed blast blowing it up into tiny pieces.

“How’s that Hermano?” Jaime said naturally without even realizing he had let his nickname for Bart slip unintentionally. It felt natural to Bart so he didn’t think much of it in the moment. He was more focused on the fact that he should probably give Jaime a bit of the satisfaction he so clearly craved but not without still upstaging him entirely. Impulse ran around creating a very flattering self portrait in 1.6 seconds out of the specks of the boulder Jaime had blown up. He signified that he had finished with his signature yelling of, “Ta-da!”, accompanied by the pose.

Jaime flew up, after Bart has sassily told him to and stared in amazement at the self portrait. “Crash! Totally crash!”, he responded before having the wind knocked out of him from an unknown force from behind. He heard Bart yell, “Blue!”, which he couldn’t help but smile to himself about in the back of his head while upfront he was trying to figure out why he was pinned to the desert floor.

They managed to escape after a brief encounter with the Terror Twins, Aqualad and Tigress. Bart had snatched the locator device and the two of them were on their way back to the cave. Neither of them would have ever admitted it but they both were disappointed that their bonding that night had been interrupted. They were both having so much fun and neither of them were ready to call it a night. But unfortunately they weren't given much choice in the matter.

Just when they thought the night couldn’t get worse they both copped a good yelling from Nightwing given their amateur decision to bring the locator back to the cave. Jaime had been too busy wallowing in disappointment that his fun night with Bart had been cut short to even think about telling Bart to leave the device behind because he did know better.

 It was then Khaji Da who took its turn to scold Jaime for having allowed himself to be distracted. Jaime got really annoyed by the bugs’ selfishness. He felt his temper rising and the sudden reappearance of Black Manta’s team only sent it higher. “They’ve already ruined my night enough as it is!” he shouted in his mind.

A fight broke out between the heroes in the cave and the villains but it didn’t take long until they were unfortunately subdued. With the threat of a bomb destroying them all Jaime stood down and let himself be collared. He didn’t even notice Bart looked particularly upset, more so than ever at having the collar on him. Bart remembered having to wear one in the future.

Jaime had an urge to help Bart, but it wasn’t long before the scarab had taken over and his rage all became a blur before he was no longer conscious. He hadn’t really pieced together what had happened when he woke up in the pod. It took a second for him to realize he wasn’t somewhere familiar and then the panic settled in. He was in a pod being held captive on a Reach ship. He started to freak out even more when he remembered they also had Bart.

His scarab offered up translation which allowed him to understand that the scientist was talking about killing him with another beetle warrior whose armor was similar to his own. His armor was black and his laugh sent shivers down Jaime’s spine and he knew straight away he wasn’t a good guy. It wasn’t long before they began to experiment on him. He was being electrocuted and he was thinking about his family and how he would never get to see them again as he believed his fate was sealed. He screamed in agony as the voltages of electricity tore through his body.

Suddenly he no longer felt on fire. He fell forward into Bart’s arms and it took him a moment to come to and realize he was being saved. He felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude that his new friend had rescued him. Bart was helping him walk to salvation when he questioned Bart for information about what was going on. Little did Jaime know that what he was about to hear next would adversely affect him for the rest of his life.

Bart explained in detail to Jaime about the apocalypse and the betrayal and Jaime felt his soul shatter. He was a superhero. Not a villain! He wouldn’t hurt a fly let alone do all the awful things Bart told him he was destined to do if the future was not changed. They didn’t get far before Black Beetle intercepted them and the team trying to escape at the rendezvous point.

When it seemed like there was no other possible way to help his friends, he gave into the scarab granting it full control of him which allowed the team enough time to make an escape. He was however knocked unconscious into the ocean after a big blast of energy during a fight with Black Beetle compelled him through a hole in the side of the ship that Shimmer had accidentally made.

He came to consciousness again repeating, “It’s me! It’s me!”, worrying that the others may have thought it was still the beetle in control. Bart was standing there by his side waiting for him to wake up and once he did he reassuringly said, “Course it is!”


	3. Chapter 3

Jaime wasn’t expecting such an adverse reaction from Bart when he proposed the idea of telling Black Canary about his future and how he was destined to bring on the apocalypse. Bart was worried about what lengths the league would go to, to stop this apocalypse from occurring. He couldn’t help but fear the unimaginable. That they might kill Jaime if it came down to it.

Bart had tried to convince Jaime to keep quiet but he could sense that the Latino was slipping. Bart couldn’t think of anything else to say or do so he placed his arm around Jaime and mustered up every ounce of confidence in his body to say, “Stick with me Blue, I’ll keep you from feeling the mode”. The comment was dripping with so much confidence that Jaime almost believed Bart. That he could protect Jaime from everything. Jaime was also caught up in noticing Bart’s warm hand around his cold shoulder and how good it felt. But the doubt soon returned forcing him to logically question how Bart could change something as grand as fate all on his own.

Jaime had spent a lot of time dwelling on all the evil things he knew he had committed in the future, or at least, in Bart’s timeline, and he also thought about the league potentially killing him in order to stop the prophecy. But in all honestly, the guilt had consumed him to the point where he didn’t care. He charged towards to Black Canary and Bart tried desperately to change his mind for his own safety, which Jaime found sweet but ultimately confusing given that Bart had lost so much to him at the hands of his future self.

After a few minutes of open conversation, Jaime drank in all the shocked faces displaying emotions ranging from horror to fear. Bart’s face also showed fear but for an entirely different reason. Especially when Jaime seemed to encourage the league to go to any lengths by explicitly stating, “Whatever it takes. Get this scarab off my back!”

The league took off with Jaime from that point and Bart didn’t get to see Jaime alone for a while again after that, but the first chance he did, he lightly hit Jaime’s right arm and hissed, “Blue why did you tell them? They might hurt you know! Or worse!”

Jaime was irritated that Bart had hit him, even though it didn’t hurt because Bart had made sure it was light enough to cause no pain. The argument that followed left both bows with a feeling of unpleasantness.

After that Bart didn’t abandon Jaime’s side, he still wanted to be there for him even if he knew Jaime was somewhat angry with him. Not only for hitting him but because he was redirecting a lot of anger and frustration towards Bart which one would understandably do if they were in Jaime’s position.

Bart had just received a text alerting him to get ready for a mission, a mission with the Alpha squad. He knew that meant Jaime would be there. He tried his best to put it out of his mind until he was face to face again with Jaime, them both having started the mission now.

They were undercover and were investigating the Reach and Lex Luthor’s agricultural center. They had just gotten into each of their bathroom stalls to change into their costumes to which Bart did immediately. He was done before Jaime had even turned the lock on his cubicle. Jaime started to change and it wasn’t long before he heard the incredibly fast thuds of a bored Bart’s foot tapping against the tiled floor. Jaime scrunched up his forehead in annoyance before taking a deep breath wanting to calm himself before the mission.

“Ugh. Can we please start the mission now?” Bart begged.

“Fine!” Tim said.

They all walked out rather quickly eager to start the mission. They all immediately noticed Bart wasn’t in stealth mode because of that blinding red stripe on his costume.

“You’re in the wrong mode!” whined Tim.

“Dude! I crash all modes!” Bart said proudly pointing at his chest.

Tim face palmed and Jaime felt his frustration rise watching Bart hopelessly trying to figure out where the trigger for his stealth mode was on his costume. Jaime had remembered and elbowed Bart hard in the chest in the spot the trigger was. It felt good finally getting even with Bart for having hit him earlier.

“Ow! Thanks!” Bart snapped.

Jaime was surprised Bart was still being polite and then started to feel bad considering he had elbowed harder than Bart had hit him. The mission went relatively well until Arsenal decided to go off mission and make it no longer a covert one. At this point Jaime put his anger for Bart aside and redirected it towards Arsenal. He knew that stunt would likely put them in danger. He just didn’t know quite how much until Black Beetle arrived shortly after.

Luckily, nobody got hurt and the Alpha squad fled the scene with their new acquaintance Green Beetle. Jaime felt very overwhelmed by meeting yet another beetle warrior. He started to feel less special which was odd given that he didn’t want the scarab in the first place knowing what it meant for his future. After getting to know Green Beetle, Jaime was deliriously happy when Green Beetle offered to try a potentially dangerous method of cleansing Jaime’s scarab.

Unfortunately for the team, they were all unaware that Jaime was about to be put on mode. When Bart discovered he couldn’t forgive himself for having not noticed sooner. He could tell Jaime had been acting strange as of late but he wasn’t able to pin point it. It was hard to tell who felt more guilt. Bart for having not realized his best friend was on mode, or Jaime, for nearly slaughtering Bart when he and Batgirl had ambushed him on that abandoned street.

Once Jaime was finally off mode thanks to Zatanna, Jaime asked Bart to go for a walk with him. Jaime flew Bart over to a quiet place in the city where they knew they could talk without fear of being overheard. Jaime had considered the El Paso desert but that place had special memories attached to it which he didn’t want tarnished by what they were about to discuss.

“Jaime…”, Bart started. “I am so sorry I didn’t realize sooner. I failed to protect you. I hope you’re not mad at me.”

Jaime looked back in disgust and retorted, “If anyone should be sorry it’s me! I nearly killed you in that alley way! I was screaming at the scarab to stop but I had no control. Not to mention I virtually gave you a front row seat to your awful past! I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry.” Jaime looked like he wanted to cry but he wanted to remain strong in front of Bart, in case he had needed him. But Bart was too busy consumed in the relief that he had his Jaime back, the real Jaime back, to cry. Bart wrapped his arms around Jaime and hugged him tight and Jaime returned the gesture.

Jaime thought that he and Bart had gotten through the worst of it, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. It wasn’t long before the Reach were a thorn in their side yet again but nobody was prepared for what happened soon after.

After Jaime learnt about the MFD’s and had caught everyone up, pairs were assigned to each geographical location the scarab had located one to deploy Luthor’s virus eggs. Every team succeeded. However Khaji Da missed a 21st MFD that escaped his scan due to it having being placed in the North Pole whose magnetic hemisphere allowed it go undetected. Unfortunately it had already gone chrysalis which forced the world’s greatest minds to quickly brainstorm a solution. The speedsters knew what they had to do and they did it.

Jaime was alarmed when Khaji Da warned that the Wally West was in danger and that he’d soon cease. Sadly, Barry and Bart weren’t able to do anything to save Wally in time. They stopped running and both drowned in the horror they were both just forced to witness. Let alone let the team know, let Artemis know, what had just happened.

Artemis lost control of her body and fell to her knees crying uncontrollably and Bart felt inclined to do the same. But he, similarly to Barry, remained strong for Artemis’ sake. Jaime was angry at Khaji Da for not locating the last MFD. The first chance Jaime got he was having a screaming match with Khaji Da. And then the most unexpected thing happened. Khaji Da apologised! Jaime was surprised by the scarab’s ability to do so. Jaime managed to quickly forgive Khaji Da knowing the Reach knew of the flaws of their own scarab technology and used it to their advantage. If anyone was to blame, it was the Reach.

Jaime had felt so guilty in the moment he hadn’t said anything to anyone. In fact he slipped away quietly when the rest of the team did. He wasn’t sure how much of the blame he’d wear from everyone else and he needed space to process his own guilt first.


	4. Chapter 4

Months went by and apart from the funeral, Bart pretty much kept to himself. It felt so odd for Jaime to spend time with Bart now. He was flat, not his old self. He was broken. And yet Bart still tried to tack on a smile that could fool everyone except for Jaime. Bart was drowning in guilt, similarly to Barry. But Barry had Iris to talk sense into him and keep him afloat. Bart had nobody.

Most people were trying to console Artemis which Bart understood and was glad about, but it meant no one paid attention to him to notice he was suffering. Jaime was the only one who truly noticed Bart was suffering and he vowed to be there to support him no matter what. Jaime thought he was starting to see some improvement in Bart. And Jaime was spending even more time with Bart since the Wally incident.

Bart was constantly asking for favors from Jaime and though sometimes inconvenient or even exhausting in the quantity they came, Jaime always dropped anything and everything to be by the speedster’s side. But Jaime noticed as time passed that Bart’s excuses over time were beginning to become transparent. Jaime was beginning to realize just how much Bart was still hurting and that he clearly had feelings of loss he still hadn’t dealt with.

Jaime didn’t want to overstep any boundaries or upset Bart so he remained a silently supportive friend until one day. On this particular day, Bart’s excuse for Jaime to come over was that his grandmother Iris had made too much food and that they needed help finishing it off. Bart never needed help finishing off food. There was no such thing as too much food for a speedster. Jaime was really starting to worry about Bart at this point and couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

“Bart?” Jaime said calmly.

“Yeah?” Bart muttered back not realizing that his act of being alright was starting to fall apart.

“I don’t think you’re okay. I’m worried about you. You’re making up excuses to get me here that aren’t even believable anymore. I still came anyway because I’m your best friend and I want to be here for you. You can tell me anything Bart.”, Jaime softly stated without losing the calm tone in his voice at any stage.

Bart looked at Jaime. He tried to resist but he was so tired and cracked. The tears came pouring out of him suddenly and Jaime was there embracing him in a hug while Bart let out months of bottled up tears. It took every ounce of strength Jaime had to hold the speedster still (who was physically shaking so much from the repressed tears) and to resist the strongest urge to cry himself as he’d never seen anyone, let alone his best friend in such an overwhelming state of grief.

“Be strong” Jaime repeated in his head. “Do it for Bart”, Jaime told himself.

Once Bart had finally gotten to a point where he could breathe properly and had stopped crying, he pulled away and spoke, “It’s all my fault. I came back to the past to stop the Reach from taking over the world and to stop them from hurting people. I couldn’t even save my own family. Again. I couldn’t save them in the future and I couldn’t save them now.”

Jaime instantly jumped to his defense still maintaining a calm tone, “Bart. Please. It’s not your fault at all. It is only the Reach’s fault. At first I blamed myself entirely for not locating that last MFD, for not having anticipated the Reach to do something underhanded like they did. But with time I’ve come to realize I did everything I could. And so did you. If either of us genuinely had any knowledge of how we could have stopped this, we would have done whatever it would have taken. And Wally knew the risks, he accepted that when he first became a hero. Protecting people is what we do. And he did exactly that. And so did you. You helped save the world. All three of you did. If he had the chance to make the same decisions all over again, I truly believe he would.”

Bart took some time to reflect on everything Jaime had said. A lot of it made sense. It didn’t make his crushing grief feel any lighter but he felt less foggy and knew that Wally wouldn’t want him beating himself up like this. He went back in for another long hug from Jaime and whispered, “Thanks Blue.”

 

Jaime had been Bart’s rock through this tough time and their friendship only grew stronger because of it. Thankfully Bart began making genuine improvement from that point on and was even starting to crack jokes again by using obviously pathetic excuses to get Jaime over such as needing his help to reach something off a tall shelf.

It didn’t take long until Bart was fully aware he had feelings for Jaime. He was constantly thinking about him, in the most literal sense. He always wanted to be with Jaime. He loved seeing Jaime’s gorgeous brown eyes and his intoxicating smile. Not to mention his body. And Bart started talking to himself in his head a lot more. “I wonder what situations would allow me to touch him?”

Bart pondered in his head. And he brainstormed a few and he began executing one each time they caught up. One day Jaime had come over and Bart had opted to play Twister. Jaime was caught completely off guard by the request but never the less indulged. Bart was in charge of spinning the wheel and he span it but wouldn’t show Jaime the result.

He blurted out whatever colors were necessary until Jaime was spread equally on both arms and legs much like a tall awkward dog. And Bart, who had plenty of room to be an awkward shorter dog on his own (without touching Jaime), decided to ignore the more obvious and easier to reach available spaces and took one on the inner side of Jaime’s leg forcing their legs to brush. Bart was happy his long locks of hair were covering his face because his cheeks were redder then the circles his hands were on.

He desperately wanted to look over and see Jaime’s face but was too scared to show his rosy cheeks so he stared down and then kept spinning the board which was now placed on the floor in front of Jaime so he had to play properly now. He didn’t mind because he and Jaime got even more intertwined as the game progressed.

Jaime was a little confused at why Bart had initially been so quick to invade his personal space knowing he didn’t have to, he palmed it off as one of Bart’s eccentricities and Bart had no regrets. The highlight of the game was when Bart was inverted and underneath Jaime and Jaime said with a laugh thrown in, “Quit staring at me Hermano! It’s hard enough concentrating on not falling as it is.”

“But…”, Bart started normally before singing the rest of his sentence, “You’re beautiful! You’re beautiful it’s true!”

To which Jaime roared with laughter which ruined his concentration. He lost control of his core causing him to fall on top of Bart. Luckily Jaime’s head landed above Bart’s shoulder so they didn’t head butt. And Bart was over the moon and so excited to have Jaime literally on top of him. He was so tempted to wrap him in a hug and kiss him but had to restrain himself with all that he had.

He was disappointed when Jaime rolled off way too quickly for his liking immediately apologizing, “I’m so sorry Hermano I didn’t mean to fall on you. But you made me laugh! You had it coming!”

Bart hadn’t expected his plan to end so well and grinned cheekily before saying, “Just admit it. You were gravitated towards me because of my natural charm.” Jaime scoffed playfully. Later after Jaime left, he replayed the game’s events and felt weird about the whole interaction. He had hated to admit but he could have moved his leg to another circle when Bart had his leg brushed up against his. But for some reason he didn’t quite mind having Bart’s leg touching him. He was bothered by his level of whelmed-ness. He felt like it should have bothered him but it didn’t. After a while he decided to put out of his head and focus on something else.  

Bart kept executing his plans where he could; he snuck an innocent touch in here or there but never crossed a line he didn’t think Jaime would be uncomfortable with. Bart wanted to test the waters. Which was stupid because Bart was entirely certain Jaime would return his feelings. Jaime continued to allow these actions and hated how much he was enjoying them as Bart continued doing them. But Jaime insisted it was a quirk of Bart’s.

One morning Bart messaged Jaime asking to catch-up. However Bart was out of ideas and had to think of some reason to see Jaime.

“Let’s catch-up and go clothes shopping Hermano!” Bart’s text read.

Bart waited tapping his foot a million times a second waiting for a response.

“Come on Jaime hurry up! Just reply already!” Bart said before chuckling to himself knowing how ridiculously impatient he was being.

“Ooh!”, he blurted excitedly when his phone vibrated and he instantly read the response back with a broad smile on his face. Suddenly, his smile drooped.

Bart read the text aloud to himself in disappointment, “Sorry Hermano, I’m sick I can’t go out today. I’m on bed rest.”

Bart tilted his head while he thought of a response. “That’s ok, I’ll come over and take care of you!” Bart replied. Jaime begun typing a message telling Bart not to bother drearily from his bed but before he could even finish the first word Bart was in front of him yelling his signature, “Ta-Da!” line.

Jaime clearly startled, swore in Spanish and then apologized to Bart.

“Its ok Hermano! Sorry to hear your sick that’s not crash at all! I brought you some chicken noodle soup!” Bart cooed.

“Thanks Bart just set it down on the bedside table” Jaime croaked.

“Hmm it is with my expert medical opinion that I believe you have the flu.” Bart said with some level of sophistication in his voice which made Jaime roll his eyes.

“You’ve got all the symptoms except one. Have you got a fever?” Bart inquired.

“I don’t know ese?” Jaime said dismissively.

Bart’s eyes lit up when he came up with an idea. Jaime noticed Bart’s face perk up and suddenly Bart leant over Jaime and pressed his pursed lips on to Jaime’s forehead. A tingling sensation shot through Jaime like wildfire making his entire body feel like he was on a serious dopamine high.

Bart leant back and frowned looking up as he pressed his thumb and forefinger to his chin as though he was seriously analyzing Jaime like an actual doctor. “Yup! As I suspected you have a fever! This is worse than I thought. I’ll go let your mom know”, Bart quickly said before Jaime spoke, “Did you just kiss my forehead?”

“Yes?” Bart said.

“Why?” Jaime asked stunned.

“You can tell if a person has a fever by kissing their forehead and if the temperature of their skin is hot, that means they have a fever.” Bart said knowledgeably.

“What? I’ve never heard of that!” Jaime said in doubt.

“It’s true!” Bianca interjected.

Both Bart and Jaime turned their heads to face his mother who was now standing in the door way. Jaime blushed like he had been caught doing something wrong even though he hadn’t done anything at all.

“Oh hi Mrs Reyes!” Bart said perkily.

“Good to see you Bart!” She responded before adding, “I didn’t even know you were here!” before laughing a bit to herself. “Jaime I brought you some medicine to help you feel better”, she continued. She paused, looked at Bart and added, “Although Bart seems to be taking good care of you anyways. I see he brought you chicken noodle soup. That’s one of the best things to eat when you’re sick.”

Bart chimed in saying, “Yeh the steam from the soup helps dissolve mucus and helps you breathe easier and feel better.”

“GROSS!” Jaime spat out before Bart and Bianca shared a laugh.

“Bart is absolutely correct though. Who knew I wasn’t the only doctor in the house?” she teased winking at Bart. Bart beamed with a smile and Jaime shook his head with exhaust becoming irritated that his mother seemed to be hitting it off really well with Bart. He was jealous. Outright jealous. That his mother was being friendly with Bart. Only he could be friendly with Bart. He started imagining Bart hanging out with his mother and not inviting him along.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” Jaime said to himself in his mind, the question dripping in disgust. “I must be really ill to be having these thoughts.” he told himself. Jaime gave his mother a look of departure and she understood and left the room.

To dispel the awkwardness he was feeling, Jaime broke the silence and said, “But yeh, anyway, we can go shopping another time.”

“Sounds crash!” Bart responded in that oh so cute voice of his. He sat on the bed next to Jaime looking out of the window and Jaime got lost in awe of first Bart’s amazingly green eyes that caught the light and sparkled. Then Jaime’s eyes looked down to Bart’s smile which was so intoxicating that it made his body feel weak, which was bad enough when he was healthy but being sick he was worried it might kill him! Then Jaime looked at the beautiful wavy locks of hair that curled down both sides of his face, like a nice Auburn frame to tie up the piece of art (that was Bart’s face). Jaime really wanted to reach out and push a stray curl that had fallen into Bart’s face when he moved his head showing he was clearly deep in thought, thankfully so deep as to not notice Jaime was staring at him.

Something inside Jaime snapped and he felt anger now but he wasn’t about to let Bart, who’d just been sweet enough to bring him supplies to help him get better, wear the brunt of this anger that began to boil inside of him.

“Bart.” Jaime said calmly bringing Bart back in to focus.

“Huh what? Sorry I was elsewhere” Bart said feeling guilty.

“That’s ok. I think you should go home. I don’t want you hanging around me getting my germs. You might get sick!” Jaime said throwing in a little unnecessary sickness into his voice.

“I don’t care about getting sick-” Bart started happily before Jaime came back quickly with “Please? For me Hermano?”

Bart now looked him dead in the eyes and Jaime noticed that the light that had been shining in his green eyes only moments earlier had gone dull.

“Oh.” Bart said figuring this was about more than Jaime being worried about his health. He knew Jaime was aware of his immune system having no issue combating most illnesses due to his speed-healing abilities. Bart rose from the bed quickly as if he’d sat on wet paint. “Sure. If you need anything else just call me.” he said softly before forcing a fake smile and then running out of the room at super speed to go back home.

Jaime wasted no time in throwing his arms up in the air in frustration and bringing his hands down in fists really hard on the bed. He let out the loudest growl he could manage without allowing anyone else to hear him.

“What does this mean?” he yelled in his head. Khaji Da went to speak up and Jaime snapped “not now!”

He was just angry and confused. Up until Bart, he was 100% convinced he was straight. He liked girls, he thought they were cute, they gave him butterflies, but that was virtually the extent of it. And since that’s all he had known, he wasn’t aware there was more. When Jaime was allowing Bart to touch him all the time and enjoying it, he thought it was all in his head, just psychological. He justified his thoughts in any way he could. But just a moment ago, when Bart had kissed his forehead, it was no longer psychological, it was biological.

This was more than just a thought or a decision to glance at Bart when he wasn’t looking, this was full blown chemistry. Jaime felt excitement fill his entire body, it felt like he was being electrocuted but in a good way. Jaime had felt pleasure in every cell in his body, in cells he never even knew he had. He was overwhelmed with exhilaration and he wanted another taste of it. A taste of his lips. A taste of Bart. He had his hands covering his face at this stage of the thought process as if he needed to hide his face from the world. He felt embarrassed, he felt confused. He didn’t want to accept that he had feelings for Bart.

“You know what?” he snapped at himself in his head sincerely hoping Khaji Da would chime in. “This is stupid. These feelings are stupid! I’m just going to suppress them and they will go away in no time”. He was a little disappointed that Khaji Da hadn’t tried to interrupt and therefore given him an excuse to yell because he wanted to take his anger out really bad, on anybody.


	5. Chapter 5

Some time passed and Bart couldn’t take it any longer. He was determined to wait and let Jaime contact him first when he was ready. But Bart was weak, he couldn’t go any longer without seeing Jaime so he gave in and messaged Jaime.

“I hope you’re feeling better Hermano? If you want to chill I’m down.” Bart sent.

He’d agonized on the wording for a good hour not wanting to come off as desperate but not distant either to make sure Jaime didn’t think he was offended or upset by how he had wiped Bart off. I mean he was obviously upset but he wasn’t going to let it show. Jaime took a long a time to reply. 2 hours and 17 minutes, not that Bart was counting.

 It had taken that long for Jaime to decide how he wanted to play this. He missed Bart but he was still angry at him. He eventually reached a compromise and replied with, “Yeh sure. Let’s go clothes shopping since we didn’t get to go last time.”

Jaime’s logic behind the decision was that he could control the situation and avoid temptation by being alone with Bart. Of all the places they spent time together, his bedroom since was the most common. They’d be in public and that would serve as a great distraction. Bart responded straight away pinning down a time and place with Jaime. Bart was more than ready to see his friend again but this time he had decided he wouldn’t pull any unnecessary stunts to sneak in a touch or a kiss, despite the fact he was very proud of thinking up that last one.

It was around mid day and Bart and Jaime had agreed to meet in the afternoon so Bart still had a few hours to kill. Bart offered to help clean the house with Iris and she was flabbergasted when he had done so. She tried pushing for an answer as to why Bart was helping clean since that was very unusual for him. But he just sidestepped all her questions so she didn’t push any harder. She was afraid he might stop cleaning. She made a mental note to discuss this later with Bart after he’d come back from the mall.

Cleaning certainly helped make the time go faster and helped bring clarity to Bart’s mind. He had a quick shower as he’d gotten quite dirty throughout the day and let his hair air dry on the run. When he got there his hair had a bit more volume than usual which he didn’t mind at all. He spotted Jaime sitting at a couch in front of some food outlets. Jaime looked up and saw Bart striding over at human speed. Jaime did feel a little amused that Bart was forced to walk at a normal pace knowing that it must be torture for him.

When Bart got closer, Jaime noticed his hair was extra fluffy and it just made Bart look even cuter. He immediately shut that thought down.

“Hey Hermano!” Bart echoed as he went to give Jaime a hug as he always did. Although this time Jaime felt lifeless and just sat there like a stone when Bart did hug him not returning the hug. After exchanging pleasantries and Jaime feeling the awkwardness heavy in his chest, he immediately ushered Bart towards the nearest clothing store he could see.

A woman was walking by and her purse fell out of her handbag but she clearly didn’t notice so Bart quickly swiveled around and picked it up and chased her down at human speed and returned it to her. It took a second for Jaime to realize Bart was no longer by his side, and he watched the events unravel and watched as the woman hugged Bart and thanked him profusely for returning her purse. Jaime felt like a coin. Part of him felt jealous that the woman was hugging Bart and the other half was proud and he smiled observing the sweet thing Bart had just done.

Bart came back and saw Jaime was smiling to which he smiled back even bigger and brighter. This made Jaime feel weak in the knees and forced a feeling of calm to just wash over him like the ocean does the sand. He couldn’t hold on to his bitterness after seeing that smile. It was almost supernatural the effect it had on him.

“So…” Bart said rocking from heel to toe, “Are we going to buy anything or just look?”

“Depends” Jaime beamed, “We can try some stuff on and see what we think.” Jaime started walking to the men’s section, Bart hot on his heels. “Ok so let’s have a look…” Jaime said as he started sliding through shirts on a rack. Bart observed and started doing the same without even paying attention to the shirts. He just wanted to look like he fit in.

They then reached a circular rack of clothes. Jaime and Bart were on opposite sides looking at shirts. Well at least Jaime was. Bart had other ideas. Bart suddenly ducked down into the rack and went swimming through an ocean of clothes until suddenly popping out in front of the shirts Jaime was examining.

“Dios mio!” Jaime quipped under his breath grabbing his chest.

Bart was chuckling and submerged himself back into the abyss of clothes like a shark fin in the ocean. Any anger from the initial fright Bart had given him vanished and as mad as Jaime wanted to be he couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at the sight of Bart vanishing into the clothes rack.

Bart may have not been able to see anything from inside the middle of the rack except for a range of different materials as far as the eye could see, but Bart heard Jaime laughing. He pulled a fist towards his chest as if having scored a goal. He came out the other side and walked around casually as if nothing had happened and put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder before saying in a suave voice, “Did anything pop out at you?”

Jaime smirked and grabbed him by the arm and said “Let’s move on.” as he rolled his eyes still unable to shake the giant grin on his face. “God he’s so cute!” Jaime thought to himself! “GARH! I did it again! Don’t think about Bart Jaime! Honestly get a grip!”

When he’d stopped arguing with himself, he noticed Bart holding a few coat hangers.

“Whatcha got there hermano?” Jaime asked.

“Clothes I think would look good on you”, he said chirpily.

Jaime blushed. “Alright, give them here I’ll go try them on.”

Jaime walked to the fitting rooms and Bart waited outside and sat on the couches near a giant mirror next to the stall. Bart so desperately wanted to peek under the door and watch Jaime get changed but he knew it would be wrong. “I’m 16!” Bart thought to himself, “I should have self control!”. He started tapping his foot to distract himself from the impure thoughts he was having about Jaime.

It wasn’t too long before Jaime emerged wearing a pair of nice jeans and a shirt that showed off his muscled arms. Bart flailed his arms in amazement before shouting, “Woah! You look so crash in that!”

Jaime hated to admit but even he thought he looked good.

“You think?” Jaime stammered.

“124%!” Bart exclaimed.

Jaime chuckled at the choice of such a random but specific number.

He went back in and tried on another outfit Bart had chosen.

When he came out Bart was impressed but he thought it was missing something. “Hang on a second it’s missing something…” He pursed his lip for a second deep in thought hurried off and came back with a beanie. The black beanie worked really well with the white long sleeve shirt that highlighted Jaime’s tanned skin and the slick blue pants he wasn’t entirely certain he could pull off.

“I’m kind of half sold on this one.” Jaime deliberated.

“Trust me Jaime, it looks great on you, give me just a sec…” Bart said before rushing off coming back with a random sales woman.

“What do you think of this outfit miss?” Bart said.

The woman blushed, “Wow if I weren’t so old I’d be all over you.”, she said towards Jaime feeling embarrassed knowing she was crossing a line by saying that. Jaime blushed and knew she genuinely meant it and thought he looked really good. She quickly turned around and returned to the counter she shouldn’t have left in the first place.

“So hermano! Am I good at choosing clothes for you or what?” Bart said ecstatically.

“Yes…” Jaime grumbled admitting defeat.

“Now let’s get you some clothes hermano!” Jaime said ready to take on the challenge.

“I actually already have an outfit in mind I want to quickly try first if you don’t mind. Why don’t you go pick out some stuff for me and meet me back here?”

“Yeh sure Hermano!” Jaime said with a hint of excitement to go hunting for some clothes for Bart.

Jaime wasn’t much of an expert when it came to the fashion department. He started to cringe when his mind kept suggesting he pick tight, revealing or somewhat transparent clothes for Bart to try on. He realized he’d been taking a while and so he just grabbed a v neck shirt and some shorts for Bart to try on. Jaime strode back into the fitting rooms and yelled out, “Bart. I’m back. Ready when you are!”

“Just a sec!” the speedster replied.

Jaime heard the stall door open and he looked up before gasping, “Holy $#!+”. Bart was wearing denim skinny jeans that really complimented his toned legs and curvy backside. He was also wearing a white shirt with paintball looking splashes of color on it. The shirts’ sleeves stopped just above Bart’s muscles which were getting progressively bigger as Bart got older and worked harder at the gym during training. He had tossed his messy hair all to one side and was wearing a dark blue beanie. He looked so hot. He also looked older, but hot!

“Jaime Reyes your blood pressure, heart rate, and a number of other vitals just increased. The cause is the Impulse. Recommended tactic, evisceration!” Khaji Da snapped.

Jaime was too busy hoping Bart hadn’t noticed his jaw drop to even hear Khaji Da.

“What is it? Is it bad?” Bart said with concern, completely naive to Jaime’s reaction which anybody else would have realized the context of his response.

“Uhh… no!” Jaime stammered, “it makes you look older and…”, Jaime swallowed, “… and older”. He couldn’t bring himself to say the second word.

“Oh.” Bart returned with surprise, “Is that a bad thing?”

“Uhh no I guess not.”

“So you wouldn’t mind seeing me wear this again?”

“I can’t wai- I mean… Yeh it uhh… suits you.” Jaime said trying to keep a straight face and wondering whether he was being selfish telling Bart to buy the outfit purely for Jaime’s selfish motive of seeing him in it again.

Bart turned around in the mirror and stopped on his side. Jaime had the perfect view to admire him. To admire Bart’s muscles, toned physique and his ass which he’d even overheard some of the girls on the team fawn over. Make no mistake, Bart was becoming a lady killer as he got older similarly to Jaime. Jaime then realized Bart was now becoming a man killer now too and jumped up and ushered Bart back into the fitting room before handing over the clothes he had chosen and saying, “Uhh try these on Hermano!”

Jaime clumsily exited and shut the door behind him taking in a deep breath hoping no one had noticed that whole incident knowing that anybody who wasn’t as naive as Bart would have known exactly what just happened. Jaime went and sat back down and it wasn’t long till Bart came out.

He was beaming, mostly because Jaime had chosen these clothes for him which made them so special to Bart. Jaime gulped because Bart still looked really good in the outfit Jaime had chosen for him.

“At least he wasn’t smoking hot like the first outfit he had tried on.” Jaime thought to himself before shaking his head while he wrestled with these demons.

“I love it!” Bart said still beaming spinning around on one foot in front of the mirror in a full circle to stop facing Jaime only to finger gun at him. “And I love… well you?” Jaime thought to himself watching Bart literally rock the outfit and suave attitude. Jaime was starting to get a headache from exacerbating so much energy trying to keep his thoughts about Bart pure.

“Yeh. It’s nice.” Jaime said softly before continuing, “We should get going I’ve got to go home”. Bart looked a little sad given they hadn’t been out for very long and he wanted to keep trying on outfits. “Ok” Bart said trying not to sound too disappointed. They went to the counter and the woman blushed again seeing Jaime and quickly put their items through so they’d leave before she said anything else inappropriate.

They headed straight back to Jaime’s house. His mother greeted them cheerfully and took immediate interest in asking about their day once she had noticed they were both carrying shopping bags.

“What did you two buy?” Bianca said raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

“Just some clothes.” Jaime responded.

“Ooh! I want to see them! Why don’t you two model them for me!” she said all excited.

“But maaa!” Jaime groaned despite knowing that she made him model all his clothes whenever he bought something new so there was no escaping it.

“You know the rules” she said back sternly. “Oh and Bart I want to see your new clothes too” she smiled, “go change up in Jaime’s room and then show me what you got!”

Bart bounded up the stairs as he was excited to show off his new clothes. Jaime trudged up the stairs slowly and Bart was bounding back down again in the outfit Jaime had chosen for him before Jaime was even halfway up the stairs.

“Mrs Reyes! Look at this outfit! Jaime picked out for me!” Bart said practically vibrating with excitement.

“Very nice Bart!” Bianca responded.

“Thanks!” He said beaming.

Jaime was back down again wearing the first outfit Bart had chosen for him.

“Wow Jaime! That looks awesome on you!” Bianca said gesturing her arms out at him aiding the genuine tone in her voice.

“Thanks!” Jaime muttered without any care for this embarrassing parade show.

“I chose that for him!” Bart piped up trying to get some well earned credit.

“Really? Wow Bart! You have good taste! And not just with clothes.” she said before winking at Bart. Neither Bart or Jaime was sure whether she meant in a friend context or something more so both of them blushed, Jaime more so than Bart. Bianca continued, “I have tried to get Jaime to try this stuff on before and he never goes for it! He always sticks to his plain pants and hooded jumpers. So thank you Bart for dragging him out of his comfort zone.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the way I dress!” Jaime interjects hurt by her comment.

“Of course not dear” she says before stroking Jaime’s cheek affectionately.

Jaime couldn’t really stay mad at his mother no matter how hard he tried. His father was a different story though.

“Is that all you got?” She quizzed.

Bart was about to open his mouth and say nope but Jaime had been anticipating this and got in first by yelling “YEP!” before taking Bart by the arm and dragging him up the stairs away from his mother. Jaime didn’t think he could keep a straight face if he had to see Bart in that other outfit again. And he was already freaking out over his mother’s potentially suggestive comment where she hinted that Bart had good taste to be friends with Jaime, but there was something about the way she had said it and the wink that accompanied it that made him nervous. He just couldn’t handle it. He didn’t notice Bart had repeated a question several times whilst he was doing all of this evaluating in his mind.

“Why’d you tell her we didn’t have any more clothes to show her?” Bart asked.

“Because you know…” Jaime took a second to think of an excuse, “I hate modeling clothes for her, it’s humiliating!” he responded, before realizing that what he was saying was actually truthful meaning his response wasn’t entirely a lie.

“Oh. Well I enjoyed it!” he piped back up.

“Let’s just get changed back and we can hang for a bit” Jaime said trying to shut the conversation down.

“Sure” Bart said before plopping down on Jaime’s bed to take his shoes off. Jaime walked into the closet and started taking his shirt off followed by his pants and placing them back in the bag. Little did he know Bart had been watching the whole time. Bart was having a difficult time breathing properly as he watched without saying a word and allowing his jaw to half fall open. It was then out of the corner of his eye Jaime had noticed Bart was staring. Jaime snapped, “Bart are you perving on me?”

“What? No!” Bart said as defensively as he could manage knowing full well that he was.

“What the hell is wrong with you ese?!?” he hissed.

“Noth-” Bart started to say before Jaime cut him off.

“Get out!” Jaime yelled.

Bart felt something break inside of him. He felt tears spring to his eyes. He had never been told to leave before, well… not by Jaime. He stood up taking a second to look at Jaime with a sad look which he couldn’t help, given that Jaime had just broken his heart, before zipping away.

Bart cried the entire way home and was actually glad no one could see him cry as he ran at the speed of light. He reached his house, phased through the walls so as to not have to face any of his family members and went straight to his room. He dived onto his bed and under the covers sobbing hard but trying his best to do it quietly. Apparently he did a poor job, because it wasn’t long before Iris came rushing in having heard the tears.

“Bart what’s wrong?” she began, before being completely surprised at Bart who sprang up and spilled without any hesitation which she had been expecting.

“Jaime kicked me out of his house! He asked me to leave!” Bart said weeping uncontrollably.

“What? Why?” she questioned with a hint of shock in her tone.

“Because he caught me staring at him!” Bart replied.

“Why were you-”

“Because I have feelings for him Grandma!”

“Oh. I didn’t know you were-”

“Well now you do!” Bart snapped. “If you want to kick me out too I get it.” Bart said his tone changing from frustration to exhaustion now.

“Bart! Of course we wouldn’t! We’d never! There’s nothing you could do or say to change the fact that we love you! In fact if anything, I’ve been hoping you and Jaime would get together for a while now. I thought you two were really cute together but I never said anything because I didn’t want to overstep.”

Bart was shocked at how accepting Iris had been. He wasn’t expecting it. Especially the part where she said she had hoped the two of them would end up together. “You think we’re good together?” Bart stuttered trying to process this new information.

“Yes!” she said laughing a bit before asking, “Can I give you a hug?” feeling sorry for him.

Bart quickly wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace and then thanked her. He didn’t think anything could help improve his mood after Jaime but he was wrong, this new found acceptance was a great relief for him.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been a while where Bart and Jaime went without seeing each other. Bart didn’t dare to contact Jaime even though he wasn’t mad at him anymore. Bart could never stay mad at Jaime and Bart had been in the wrong to stare but he couldn’t help himself. He had a crush and he took advantage of the situation as most people would have. But Bart couldn’t bring himself to message Jaime this time. Jaime wasn’t about to message Bart anytime soon either. He unlike Bart was still mad.

Just as a few days had passed and he was starting to let go of some of the anger, Bianca had sat down and decided to tell Jaime calmly that she thought Jaime and Bart would make a good couple. She told Jaime how she has never seen him as happy as he is when he is around Bart and that he deserves to be happy and that’s all she wants for him.

Jaime didn’t react well and was still deep in denial which lead to him retaliating with a lot of anger telling her how stupid she was and that he and Bart would never get together. Bianca had been quite hurt by her son’s comments despite knowing they were likely coming from a place of denial. Jaime continued carrying his anger everywhere with him, it radiated off of him making it one awkward time in the Reyes household. Even Milagro made an effort not to annoy her older brother as she was genuinely scared of him at this point.

Both Jaime and Bart were dreading a message from Nightwing regarding a mission they’d both have to work together on and today was finally the day. Both spent the entire time they spent travelling to the watch tower trying to figure out whether they’d talk to the other or ignore them.

Bart was already there before Jaime as was every other member of the team. Nightwing had just started the mission briefing. Bart saw Jaime enter and walk towards the group, Bart looked and made contact with Jaime for less than a second before looking down at the ground for the rest of the briefing. Jaime made no effort to look at Bart after that glance.

“Deathstroke has broken into a Wayne Industries Tech building a matter of minutes ago. If we leave now, chances are we will catch him before he obtains whatever it is he is after.”

The team wasted no time getting into the bio ship and racing on over to the building. They all entered inside.

Superboy used his super vision to scan the floor. “He’s not on this level.”

“No he is on level 14.” Robin corrected him, having hacked into the security system for an accurate location.

Miss Martian flew upwards before density shifting through the ceiling. The rest of the team was forced to take the stairs and hastily to catch-up to her, not liking the thought of her going in alone.

When they got there they could see Deathstroke firing bullets at Miss Martian which wasn’t surprising given it was his preferred method of attacking. She casually used her telekenisis to stop them all mid-air before embedding them all in the floor. She noticed something odd as she caught the bullets. “These aren’t standard bullets” she said aloud with confusion.

Deathstroke couldn’t resist coming forth to confirm and say, “No they are not! They are custom made, high density bullets laced with mystical energy from Klarion. These bullets can pierce through almost everything from metal to well I’d assume Kyrptonian skin” he said grinning at the last part. He reveled knowing that the team would likely be off their game with the added stress of knowing these bullets could do serious damage to any team member.

Miss Martian let her emotions get the better of her before running at Deathstroke. He pulled out fire bombs and threw them at the ground in front of her causing her to collapse. It was actually surprising that Miss Martian didn’t anticipate this knowing that he knew fire was her weakness and that he exploited it during every single encounter with her.

Superboy immediately jumped to her side while the rest of the team attacked. Suddenly, a bunch of henchmen, presumably all working for the light appeared. Deathstroke wasn’t foolish enough to take on the whole team on his own. Deathstroke continued shooting narrowly avoiding numerous team members. Wondergirl took a big risk and tried using her bracelets to deflect the bullets which luckily they did. However with each hit she could actually feel a slight pinch under her bracelet as if it were almost getting through.

The first person to actually lay a fist on Deathstroke was Nightwing who punched him square in the face. Deathstroke stumbled back a bit and said, “I don’t actually have time for this. I’m here on an assignment to take out one of you specifically. So get out of my way or you’ll be an added bonus.”

Nightwing wasn’t going to let that happen, and he lunged at Deathstroke who managed to cut his shoulder with a shuriken. Nightwing laid on the floor gripping his shoulder trying to assess how deep the cut was.

Deathstroke took this opportunity to walk towards the actual target who was unaware he was approaching as he was too busy fighting off some of the henchmen who had serious martial arts skills.

Beast boy turned into a cheetah and sprinted towards Deathstroke before a henchman stopped him in his tracks using a chain to tie him up and taking him down with a swift blow to the head. The number of henchmen seemed to keep growing and more of the team members were being put out of action. Deathstroke raised his gun and pointed it at his target and pulled the trigger.

Bart spotted Deathstroke as he did this, and sprinted before leaping into the path of the bullet with ease taking it right in the chest at such speed it changed the angle of the bullets trajectory making it miss its real target. Jaime. The bullet was meant for Blue Beetle.

Jaime spun around a moment later as his scarab had warned him but just not quite quickly enough. Jaime shot a plasma blast at Deathstroke knocking him onto his back and causing him to drop his gun. It was only then did he notice Bart lying on the ground. He was lying in a pool of blood. Jaime gasped in horror and felt a chill race down his spine. Before he’d even processed the injury, he was down on his knees flipping Bart over as he was face down. He didn’t even notice the bullet hole on his back as the bullet had passed straight through him. He had just wanted to see Bart’s face. His eyes were closed, his mouth lifelessly ajar. It was only then Jaime saw the bullet wound right in the middle of Bart’s chest.

 He gritted his teeth together in anger and he wanted more than nothing to charge over to Deathstroke and return the favor by putting a bullet through his chest but he couldn’t leave Bart’s side. Thankfully Wondergirl had seen this unravel and took the opportunity to seize Deathstroke’s gun. Deathstroke decided to flee without his gun but was apprehended by a raging mad Superboy.

Jaime was still holding onto Bart, tears streaming down his face under his mask. “Bart!” he screamed as bubbles of fear rose in his stomach. He shook the speedster expecting for him to wake up. “Jaime…” Bart weakly moaned using the last breath of air he had in his chest.

“Khaji Da scan him now!” Jaime ordered.

“The Impulse has sustained life threatening injuries. He timed his positioning and speed to alter the bullet’s trajectory from hitting us meaning he chose to sustain damage to vital numerous organs including his heart and lungs. He will die if he doesn’t receive medical attention immediately.” responded the scarab in his usual emotionless voice.

And with that Jaime had scooped up Bart and flew through a glass window. He leant forward allowing the armor to shield Bart from getting cut by all the shards. Jaime was flying straight to the nearest hospital which Khaji Da had estimated would be a 4 minute flight.

“Scan his vitals!” Jaime demanded. “His heart rate is dropping quickly. His chances of surviving are slim to none.” responded Khaji Da.

“Bart! Please open your eyes! Say something! Say anything! I can’t lose you Bart!” Jaime pleaded his voice breaking on the last line. He stared down at Bart through his tear filled eyes who was still unresponsive. This seemed to stress Jaime out even more than he thought he could be in that very moment.

“Bart! PLEASE! I cannot lose you! I need you! I-”

“Jaime Reyes, the Impulse went unconscious 10 seconds ago he cannot hear you.” Khaji Da interjected.

Jaime yelled out of frustration. He surged onwards. “Thank god there’s the hospital!” Jaime yelled in relief. He flew down at such an acute angle in an effort to get their faster that they were almost both paste on the sidewalk. Jaime burst in to the ER and screamed “HELP!”

A whole bunch of nurses saw the limp and dying body of Bart that was still dripping blood now onto the shiny white tiled floor. They all hurried over and ushered him away once he was on a stretcher. Jaime ran down the hall after the nurses until they stopped him at the door to the operating theatre and told him he wasn’t allowed in. He was about to protest and force his way inside when Khaji Da pointed out the possible issues that Jaime’s presence in the operating room would present.

Jaime begrudgingly stood outside and slammed his fists into the wall. He then immediately contacted Nightwing and let him know what had happened. Nightwing had already known and said that Jaime shouldn’t have run off and taken Bart to a public hospital of all places where his secret identity could be put at risk. Jaime argued with Nightwing knowing full well thanks to Khaji Da’s analysis that Bart wouldn’t have made it back to the watch tower on time. Fortunately Bart had never seemed to care for his secret identity.

After an hour or so, the lead surgeon came out to inform Jaime and Bart’s family who had now joined Jaime after Nightwing had contacted them, of the situation. The flash men were all there in uniform to protect their identities and their wives heavily dressed to hide their identities.

“We were able to stitch up all the damage done to his body however he is in a coma at the moment. But please don’t be alarmed this is very common and we think he will be conscious in a few hours.” The doctor took a note to personally thank Barry for having saved him a few years earlier in a hold up and said out of respect he had not removed Bart’s mask or allowed anyone else to do so. Barry thanked the man before the man thanked him again for saving his life.

 “When can we see him?” Jaime asked dying for an answer.

“You can all go and visit him now. Just ask the nurse over there she will take you to him personally.”

They all hurried over and were lead to Bart’s room. Barry wasted no time trying to get details from Jaime once in the room realizing that he had forgotten he couldn’t actually speak to Bart.

“What happened?” Barry grilled trying to keep his cool.

“He jumped in front of a bullet to stop it from hitting me. I didn’t even see it coming!”

Iris walked over to Bart and held his hand. She was the only one who knew how Bart felt about Jaime and understood why he had done what he had done. She quickly distracted Barry from continuing any further down his path of questioning afraid he might lose it at Jaime. All of them got comfortable in the room in the chairs available and patiently waited for Bart to wake up, none of them speaking a word.

Nightwing called Barry and informed him of what had actually transpired that evening. Barry told everyone in the room who also want to know. “Nightwing just informed me that Deathstroke had come clean about his intentions after being interrogated by Batman. Apparently Deathstroke was hired by the Reach scientist to kill Blue Beetle from prison as she was still holding a grudge. Klarion embewed the bullets with mystical energy so that they would be able to pierce Blue Beetles armor. They were made aware of this weakness during Aqualad’s time undercover working for Black Manta. And well the rest we already now. Luckily no one else on the team was injured. They are straightening the situation out with authorities now.”

Jaime slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair he was sitting in because he felt guilty for having brought not only Bart, but the whole team into this mess. Nobody said anything but they knew Jaime was seething with anger and guilt.

Thanks to the speedster healing, Bart was awake in a matter of hours. He slowly opened his eyes before gasping once his memory resumed, “Is -”, and he was about to finish by saying is Jaime okay but having super speed, Barry noticed his eyes open and had already rushed over to exclaim his name.

“Bart!” Barry said in relief cutting him off before he could he could finish which was probably just as well.

Everyone else stood up and immediately surrounded his bed. He hadn’t quite calmed down yet ignoring them all scanning all their faces until he found Jaime who had armored down knowing the doctor’s weren’t returning any time soon to give the superheroes their privacy. Bart breathed a sigh of relief and then refocused back on his family and tactfully ignored Jaime.

After answering all of the family’s tedious questions, Iris thought it would be good for Jaime and Bart to speak in private so after a lot of trying, she convinced everyone to give Bart and Jaime some time alone to talk about what had happened. She hoped that it would be about more than just that but she justified it to everyone else as a simple heart to heart between friends.

Bart looked away from Jaime once everyone had left the room unsure of where Jaime was with Bart emotionally and he soon got his answer.

“What the hell were you thinking?!?” Jaime started in on Bart.

Bart was somewhat surprised Jaime didn’t at least thank him for saving his life but he didn’t care. He loved Jaime and would have done it again given the chance.

“I-” Bart started.

“Clearly you weren’t!” Jaime said throwing his arms up in frustration as he started pacing. Bart had never seen Jaime pace before.

All the horrible feelings that Bart had felt during their last interaction at Jaime’s house started flooding back in to his mind. Bart’s heart rate started going up and his ECG machine started beeping loudly. Bart ripped the device of his thumb so it would stop displaying his heart rate to the world.

Khaji Da pointed out to Jaime his actions were causing Bart to stress out which was obviously not good for his health, especially in his current condition.

Jaime made proper eye contact with Bart for the first time since their scuffle. Bart had tears in his eyes. Jaime felt awful. The anger melted away.

“I’m sorry.” he said with a tone of defeat at Bart who was looking back at him with a look. It was a look of sadness but strength. A strength that allowed him to take any amount of anger Jaime could throw at him and let it all go, purely because he cared about Jaime so much. Jaime now started to tear up seeing this look in Bart’s eyes. Bart would always be there for him, take all his anger and still care about him. Jaime had never felt so special until this moment. He had a friend, who was clearly prepared to do anything, to give his life for Jaime, to even do so after Jaime had been so cruel to him. Jaime instinctively leaned over and gave Bart a hug.

“Ow!” Bart winced, immediately sorry he had said it because he knew it meant Jaime would pull away, which he did.

“Oh I’m so sorry Bart I didn’t even think! I’m so stupid!” Jaime quipped apologetically.

“No it’s okay.” Bart said softly. The pain was worth it for a hug from Jaime. He wanted to encourage Jaime to hug him again but knew he wouldn’t knowingly inflict pain on him even if Bart said it was worth it.

“I’m also sorry about you know… being a total jerk. Keeping my distance. All of it.” Jaime said.

Bart began to try to defend his friend’s honor but Jaime sternly shut him down and said, “You just saved my life Hermano! I can’t thank you enough. I don’t think I could ever find a way to thank you.”

Bart could think of a few. But he kept his mouth shut.

“I guess you probably want some alone time with your family…” Jaime said before turning to walk away before realizing he was being held back by something. He turned to see Bart holding his wrist with one hand while he had his other hand clutched to his chest undoubtedly to soothe the pain the sharp movement had caused him.

“What are you doing ese?” Jaime said out of shock and concern walking straight back to Bart.

“I didn’t want you to leave. I mean. You can if you want. I just didn’t want you thinking I wanted space from you.” Bart spoke through the residual pain still in his chest.

“Yeh of course I’m happy to stay!” Jaime said without hesitation. He felt like he belonged next to Bart. He felt the urge to get in the bed right beside Bart and keep him company. But he fought it. Bart was so happy Jaime had agreed to stay.

It took a lot of effort but come night time, Bart, with some help from Iris, had convinced Barry to sleep at home and instead nominate a willing Jaime to stay the night. Jaime was made to promise that he would contact them if anything went south with Bart’s recovery to which he agreed.

Once they had all left. Bart and Jaime got to talking like they used to. It was like their fight had never happened. They were even both laughing again. Then it was time for them to get some sleep. Specifically Bart.

“Bart you should probably go to sleep now. Your body heals better when you sleep.” Jaime said.

“But I want to keep talking with you!” Bart whined.

“We can talk all day tomorrow!” Jaime said smiling.

“Crash!” Bart replied smiling at hearing Jaime’s implied promise to spend the entirety of tomorrow with him.

Jaime walked over to the chair and slumped down in it.

“Jaime.”

“Yes Bart?”

“That chair doesn’t look very comfortable. You’re welcome to sleep next to me if you want?” Bart nervously twiddled his thumbs as he asked. It felt weird to ask this of your best friend when you were crushing on him. Bart was really surprised when Jaime walked over without saying a word, without even hesitating, and jumped up on to the bed beside him.

“Thanks Hermano.” Jaime said softly, “This is way better!”

They both felt excitement surge through their bodies as their sides were touching each other lightly. Jaime was reminded of the kiss Bart had planted on his head from the feeling.

“You’re welcome.” Bart responded as he giggled.

“What’s so funny?” Jaime said grinning.

“Oh. Nothing.” Bart said flashing that gorgeous smile of his that again made Jaime feel weak. Thank god he was laying down otherwise his legs might have failed him.

Jaime started laughing. Neither of the two realized they were both laughing thinking thoughts along the lines of, “If you only you knew what I was thinking right now.”

Khaji Da took the opportunity to point out Jaime’s increases in vitals and hormones. Jaime just sighed a happy sigh as he seemed to be finally okay with it in this moment. He had finally accepted that he had feelings for Bart. It made him think about how he’d probably never tell Bart, and it made him sad but he still hoped that Bart would someday find a girl he loved who made him happy (since he assumed Bart was straight and that he actually wasn’t perving on Jaime that night and that he’d just blown it out of proportion in his head due to his own feelings for Bart). He just wanted Bart to be purely happy. And he didn’t mind having these feelings anymore. It somehow made the friendship feel more rewarding.

Bart woke up first and he could feel something in his hand. He looked down and saw that it was Jaime’s hand. They were holding hands! Bart didn’t know if Jaime had initiated the hand hold or if he had while he was sleeping or something. It was all he could do to not squeal and shake in excitement. He was so happy. It felt amazing holding Jaime’s hand. His hand was warm and soft and just felt amazing in his own. He savored it for a few minutes before letting go as he didn’t want Jaime to wake up and freak out again or something. Removing his hand was one of the hardest things he had ever done. It sucked. He decided to do something very foolish to take his mind off the fact he had just let go of Jaime’s hand.

Bart got out of the bed and stood up. His speed healing had worked wonders. He felt like he could run but he didn’t risk it. He walked to the elevator, caught it down, walked across the street to a cafe and bought an assortment of items with some money Iris had left him with the day prior. Bart carried it all the way back and when he entered the room Jaime was having a panic attack.

“Dios mio! Bart I thought you had gone missing!” Jaime said whilst clutching his chest as if he was the one who had been shot.

“I got us breakfast!” Bart said back enthusiastically as if he hadn’t done anything wrong at all.

“Bart you shouldn’t be moving around too much it might slow your recovery!” Jaime winged before really processing what Bart had said, “Wait you got us what?”

“Breakfast! Don’t worry it’s not hospital food! I walked to a cafe across the street!” Bart smiled over at Jaime.

Jaime shook his head and then face palmed and Bart laughed at the smack sound it made as he did it. But aside from that Jaime felt so lucky to have a friend as sweet as Bart. He just wanted to kiss him of the cheek. Well he wanted to do more than that but that was something he knew he’d be thinking about as he drifted off to sleep that same evening.

Bart hopped back into his bed and patted beside him so that Jaime knew he wanted him beside him again. Jaime again obliged without hesitation.

Bart started unpacking the bag and yelled “Dig in!” when he was done.

Both of them shared sounds of awe eating the delicious breakfast and Jaime thanked Bart again for getting the breakfast and tilted his head down to gently tap Bart’s shoulder as he said thank you. Bart loved it! His smile grew almost twice in size when Jaime did it. Jaime didn’t even really notice he had done that until moments later. But he looked over to see Bart and just saw a smile so relaxed knowing he hadn’t made it weird or anything.

Bart got a text on his phone and Jaime got out the bed to fetch it and bring it to Bart. Luckily Jaime remained standing by the bed side because the message was from Barry saying he and Iris would be there in a flash. And they were. Bart and Jaime were both relieved neither of them had seen the two of them lying in the bed together.


	7. Chapter 7

Not long had passed and Jaime was consumed by Bart. He thought of him when he woke up, throughout his whole day and then again as he fell asleep. Even though he had accepted his feelings for Bart, his inability to concentrate on anything else did become rather annoying and sometimes dangerous.

The other day he had gone for a drive and was driving past an oval where athletes were participating in a running marathon. Obviously his thoughts immediately turned to Bart and he smiled staring over at the running athletes and when he looked back on the road in front of him he screamed as he was approaching a roundabout which he had to quickly veer sharp to make it around. Luckily no one was around to have been caught up in that potential disaster.

Jaime was starting to find his infatuation a problem. So he decided to for the safety of others and his own sake, he would tell Bart how he felt. At least even if he got rejected, which he highly suspected, he would be able to hopefully move on from his crush because as already mentioned, it was starting to put his and others’ safety at risk.

But if he was going to tell Bart how he felt, he was going to do it properly. He was going to ask Bart out on a date. He was raised traditionally after all. But he had never asked anybody out on a date before, let alone a guy. He flopped down on the couch in the watchtower living room.

“What do guys like to do?” Jaime thought to himself before laughing out loud noticing the irony of that question given that he was a guy. “Ok let me rephrase that…” Jaime muttered to himself quietly.

“Rephrase what?” Cassie quizzed.

“Gah!” Jaime screeched jumping up of the seat. “Oh. Cassie. I didn’t- Where did you-” Jaime stammered.

“I just thought I’d come to watch some TV but I saw you were deep in thought so I thought I’d offer my services. I’m really good at giving advice!” she beamed.

Cassie was a sweet and endearing friend. Both Jaime and Bart really liked Cassie. “Umm…” Jaime murmured as he questioned asking for advice.

“Come on Jaime! I can tell something’s on your mind! You can tell me!” She teased over eagerly. She then realized she was letting her nosiness get the better of her and lowered her enthusiasm before saying, “I mean, if you want to.” She quietly laughed.

“Ok fine.” Jaime said as Cassie let out a little sequel. “I have a crush on someone…”

“A crush! OMG THAT’S SO CUTE WHO IS IT? DO I KNOW THEM?” Cassie roared with excitement speaking really quickly in a ramble-y way that was reminiscent of Bart. Jaime smiled at this reminder of Bart.

“I’m not saying who Cassie…” Jaime cooed. Cassie pouted her bottom lip in disappointment, and Jaime felt really guilty so he compromised and added, “but you can help me plan a date or help me with what I should say or something I don’t know.” She jumped throwing her arms up the air and exclaimed, “You won’t regret this Jaime! I promise you I will help you get a yes.”

She clapped and rubbed her hands together making it clear she was already scheming. Jaime laughed and excused himself as he had to go home. Cassie didn’t bother turning on the television as she had planned, instead she got a paper and pen out to start brainstorming ideas.

Bart was on a covert observe and report mission with the team and they were all spread out in pairs to observe Lex Luthor’s building. The league had received intel that Lex Luthor would be trying to smuggle in illegal weapons that evening. Blue Beetle and all other members of the team who could fly were placed on roof squad to watch out for helicopters or any other form of air delivery. Bart was placed with the ground squad, all members of the team who could not fly. The ground squad was broken up into numerous groups covering all the different entrances of the building. Bart was disappointed he couldn’t be with Jaime on this mission and frequently looked up to the rooftops even though there was no way he could see him.

“Why do you keep looking up?” Tim questioned Bart bringing him back into focus.

“Uhh… I keep thinking I can hear something?” Bart lied.

“Speaking of hearing things…” interjected Arsenal, “I hear Jaime is gonna ask some girl out on a date!”

Tim rolled his eyes at the lack of focus on the mission and the unprofessionalism Arsenal seemed to always have.

“What?” Bart said with too much interest in his voice spinning around to face Arsenal.

“Yeh. I don’t know. I just heard through the grape vine. I bet she’s really hot or something!” Arsenal said followed by a snicker.

Bart felt physically ill. He wanted to throw up. He almost missed Robin cutting in to the conversation to add, “Arsenal! Have you ever heard of thing called rumors? It’s entirely possible that someone just made that up! Now quit being distracted and focus on the mission!”

Arsenal used his hand to form a blabbing gesture to imitate Robin to Impulse behind his back. Arsenal crossed his arms in annoyance when Bart didn’t give him the reaction of laughter he wanted, not even a grin. That was a very slow night for Bart Allen. Painfully slow. He had to simmer in feelings of disgust at the news he had heard. After many hours of no activity, Nightwing decided to call it a night and they all went their separate ways. Bart however zipped home and didn’t even wait to say goodbye to Jaime who did actually fly down to the ground looking for Bart wanting to say goodbye, maybe even accompany him on the ride home. He was disappointed when he couldn’t find Bart and figured he must have been really tired. He flew home with a frown on his face the entire way home.

Keen to forget about Bart’s abruptly rude exit from their mission the other night, Jaime was keen to wipe the slate clean and invited Bart over to his house.

“Hey hermano!” Jaime cheerily said towards Bart.

“Woah you have bags under your eyes!” Jaime stated with shock.

“Yeh. No big deal Hermano!” Bart said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

“Jaime Reyes. The Impulse is severely sleep deprived. Recommended tactic, knock him out so he is forced to sleep.” Jaime laughed at this and Bart tilted his head in confusion too tired to remember that if he ever saw Jaime do something unexplainable, he could justify it to being related to Khaji Da.

Jaime ushered Bart inside and took him up to his room. Bart laid down on the bed and Jaime was about to join him when he his mother called out. “Jaime! Come down stairs! I have some treats for you to share with Bart!”. “Coming mama! Sorry Bart just give me a minute!” Jaime said watching as Bart lazily waved a hand at him as if to say “Sure whatever.”

Bart was drifting off to sleep when he was startled by Jaime’s phone vibrating really loudly on the wooden bed side table. He sat up and looked at it. He read the notification which was from unknown number but the text itself read, “Sweet! I’m so glad we’re doing this! I’ll meet you at that local diner by the watchtower tomorrow morning at 10?”

Bart stood up now in horror of the text. It sounded like a date. This must have been proof of the rumor he had heard. And not just any date, a date with someone on the team (because how else would they know about the watchtower), a date at the local diner he and Jaime had first got acquainted at. Sure it was a very popular diner that many people went to, even lots of the team went there, but this place was special to Bart. The thought of Jaime defiling it by going on a date there made Bart angry. He was so tired he didn’t even realize he was snooping or the moral rules he had just broken by reading Jaime’s phone without his permission. Bart now paced the room unsure of what to do.

Jaime returned with a bowl full of snacks and was about to offer them to Bart when Bart said, “Sorry Jaime I have to go.” before walking past Jaime with a look of annoyance.

“Wait what?” Jaime said recoiling his head further into his neck out of shock. He stood there still trying to process the fact that Bart was leaving and turning down free food. “In what universe…” Jaime said before trailing off and realizing he should probably stop Bart and get to the bottom of this but it was too late. Once he had gotten to the front door Bart was nowhere in sight meaning he had likely ran home. Jaime shut the door Bart had carelessly left open.

A few hours passed where Jaime went through his day unable to stop worrying about his weird interaction with Bart. He wondered if Bart had picked up on his feelings for him and had bailed on their friendship. Jaime was assuming the worst before Khaji Da talked some sense into him allowing him to relax more and not stress so much.

 It was only then later in the day did he discover Cassie had sent a reply to his message regarding catching up to discuss her date ideas. He wanted to pick something for Bart himself so he was mainly just going to make Cassie feel useful. But there was a small part of Jaime that wondered whether she might actually recommend a really good idea. So he confirmed the time and place and went about the rest of his day brainstorming his own ideas for ideas of a date he could ask Bart on. He knew very well he could be getting way too far ahead of himself given Bart could say no, but he was having fun imaging all the different scenarios so he didn’t stop brainstorming.

Bart woke up after another horrible night of sleep. He laughed quietly aloud to himself as he referred to it as “sleep” in his head. He had virtually laid in his bed with eyes closed all night. He felt really groggy. He downed a coffee knowing he would knee it for spying on Jaime this morning. He had decided during his pacing yesterday that he was going to see who it was Jaime was on a date with. He got dressed and sat at the kitchen table motionless until it was just after 10. He allowed for a few minutes in case one of them was late before running down to the diner and slowly approaching through an alley way across the street.

He peeked around the corner having full view through the windows. He had to squint to really see it, but then he saw them. His heart sunk and he could have sworn it hit the cement sidewalk he was standing on. It was Jaime and Cassie. He didn’t watch any longer after that and with that he sped off back to his house. He threw himself on the bed and just remained still. It was the longest he had ever been still for. In fact literally anybody who knew Bart wouldn’t have believed it was possible for him to remain still for more than 5 seconds let alone the next 5 hours before Iris yelled out to Bart to come down and join the family for dinner.

“I’m not hungry!” Bart yelled from his room.

“Ok. I’ll save you some and put it in the fridge!” Iris yelled back. Even she noticed that was unusual for Bart but figured he may have just eaten or something. She assumed he had been out and about all day like he did most days. Bart found himself rarely in the mood to eat and realized he wouldn’t be able to keep avoiding dinner time or any meal time of the day so for the next few days he would come up with excuses when he could to avoid the majority of meals he’d usually be sharing with his family. At this point he was eating once a day.

Bart was drumming his fingers sequentially on the headboard of his bed when he heard an extra tap. “Did I grow an extra finger?” Bart muttered to himself in a daze. Before he heard it again and realized it was coming from his window. He rolled over and saw Jaime tapping on his window. “What the heck?” Bart whispered. He got up and opened the window.

“Hey Bart!” Jaime cheerfully greeted.

“Uhh.. Hey Jaime. Give me a second I’ll meet you at the front.” Bart said before closing the window and walking out the front door.

Now that Bart was standing outside in broad daylight Jaime could see Bart better and took a step back in surprise when he noticed something. “Dude you look awful!” Jaime said concerned.

“Gee. Thanks Blue.” Bart snickered.

“Jaime Reyes. My scans indicate that the Impulse is severely malnourished, is sleep deprived and hasn’t showered in 2 days. He is exhibiting signs of depression.”

“Depression!” Jaime stated out aloud purely out of shock.

Bart now knew Khaji Da had scanned him and cringed at how irritating he found that bug to be when it invaded people’s privacy like that.

“I’m not depressed!” Bart snapped defensively. “I’m totally fine hermano! Ignore Khaji Da.”

“You don’t look or sound fine Bart” retorted Jaime.

“Would I be able to run in a straight line like this?” Bart said childishly before running at super speed down the street and back however unfortunately for him he disproved his own point a second later when he returned. He suddenly felt very dizzy and his view started spinning. He suddenly had no grasp on his balance and collapsed in a heap on the asphalt.

“Bart!” Jaime yelled immediately running over to his side. Jaime maneuvered his arms under Bart’s to hoist him back up into a standing position but didn’t let go. Bart groaned as he reached up to cup his forehead with his right hand.

“Bart are you alright?” Jaime said whilst his eyes darted around Bart to see if he had any grazes from hitting the road. Amazingly he didn’t.

“Yep. Definitely fine! Fine fine fine fine fine.” Bart said in quick succession.

“No you’re not!” Jaime barked.

“No I’m not.” Bart said drearily as he finally cracked because he didn’t want to argue with Jaime.

Jaime helped him walk back inside and they sat down in his room. For someone who hadn’t showered in 2 days, Bart smelt like his usual self which was a relief to Jaime as he was worried about a pungent or nasty smell upon entering the room.

“Bart. What’s going on? I came over here because you haven’t responded to my messages in 2 days. I was worried about you. And rightfully so it would seem.” Jaime began. Bart hadn’t even looked at his phone and suddenly felt guilty for not having seen Jaime’s messages.

“I’m just dealing with stuff okay. Look I promise I’ll get help. Ok hermano?” Bart responded with a completely serious tone knowing that if he didn’t Jaime would shoot him a mistrusting glare. Which he still did.

“You promise?” Jaime leaned in making intense eye contact with Bart now as he was not fooling around.

“Yes Jaime.” Bart responded knowing that he now had to follow through because he always kept his promises, especially ones he made for Jaime.

“Bart you know you can talk to me. About anything? I’m not going to judge you?” Jaime tried before Bart quickly shut him down with, “Thanks Blue but there’s no way I’m bothering you with my issues!”

Jaime tried to argue but gave up after realizing Bart was not going to budge. “Ok fine. But I’m coming to check on you every day!” Jaime exclaimed. Bart smiled. Even though he had been depressed that Jaime was now dating Cassie, he could quite clearly tell Jaime genuinely cared for him and decided to take better care of himself as he could see that his current state was upsetting Jaime. Bart started fulfilling his promise immediately and began by eating a meal with Jaime in their kitchen. Bart let Jaime do all the talking while he caught up on eating which felt weird given he was getting use to eating so little so rarely.

Bart was processing his emotions now in a much more constructive manner that was allowing him to sleep much better.

He was now back to his old self and enjoying spending time with Jaime again. He still pined for Jaime, it still hurt, it did still keep him up at night from time to time. But he wasn’t slipping back into depression. He was where he was at before he found out about the rumor. Sure it wasn’t the healthiest place to be emotionally but he was used to it, he made it work.

Jaime was relieved and very impressed at Bart’s resolve to fulfill his promise. And he did. Jaime knew Bart was better now and figured it was time to ask him out. He would have done it sooner but once he found out Bart was struggling for personal reasons he delayed his plans. But now it was time.

Jaime showed up unexpectedly one day at Bart’s house. He knocked on the door and was greeted by Iris. She warmly invited Jaime inside and tried not to be insulted when Jaime cut straight to the chase by saying, “I really need to speak to Bart. Is he here?”

“Yeh he’s in his room.” she replied.

“Thanks!” He said smiling before literally running to Bart’s bedroom and bursting in.

“Hey Bart! I’ve got something to tell you!” Jaime blurted with nervous energy internally laughing knowing that bursting into someone’s room without knocking first was the most Bart like thing he had ever done.

“Jaime!” Bart jumped up in shock and ran into the bathroom attached to his bedroom. Jaime frowned because he had just lingered long enough for Jaime to notice the cradle position he was in. Bart had been sitting on the floor with his head in between his knees.

“The Impulse was just crying Jaime Reyes. Perhaps you should leave and give him some alone time.” Khaji Da suggested. Jaime was shocked at the compassion the bug had seemingly emitted for the first time ever. Bart washed his eyes and tried his best to hide the fact he had been crying. He dashed back out trying to act natural.

“Hey hermano! I was actually going to come over to see you later today! Uhh… what did you want to tell me?” Bart spoke with a convincingly normal tone.

“Not so fast. I’ll get back to what I wanted to say later.” Jaime replied shutting down the performance by grabbing Bart by the shoulders and forcing him to sit down on the bed.

“Bart. Khaji Da just informed me you were crying so don’t even try to pretend like you’re okay!” Jaime said tired of playing these games.

“Ok fine yes I was crying. But it’s not what you think. I’ve come to a decision and I am scared. I am scared I will lose the one thing I care the most about. So you can’t blame me for crying. I’m just trying to get this emotional baggage out of my system now before ya know…”

“Before what?” Jaime questioned after Bart stopped short of finishing his sentence.

“Before I came to see you this afternoon. I have something to tell you but I’m not sure how you will take it…”

“Yes?” Jaime internally sighed out of relief that Bart was finally going to open up because Jaime knew something was going on and he hated seeing Bart down. “I promise it will be fine. We will make it through whatever it is together.”

Bart winced at the word “we” not knowing how much longer there would be a “we” if Jaime didn’t take the news well. He started to shake, and Jaime instinctively hugged him which did help steady his nerves and Bart savored what he thought would be his last hug.

And then he blurted it out really quickly using his super speed hoping Jaime wouldn’t comprehend it but he knew full well that the scarab would just translate it for him.

“Ihavefeelingsforyou!”

He figured he could get a few seconds longer of the hug whilst Jaime waited for the translation. He wanted more than anything to look to see Jaime’s face once the translation was done but he just couldn’t. He couldn’t make eye contact with Jaime.

“What?” Jaime shouted excitedly. He gripped Bart’s arms and pushed him out of the hug so he could actually make eye contact with the speedster.

Bart was too busy wallowing in the feeling of rejection that came from Jaime’s physical response of forcing him away from his body out of their hug to even notice that Jaime’s verbal response was pure excitement.

Jaime let a laugh of utter disbelief escape his lips before quickly adding “I have feelings for you too Bart!”

Bart took a few seconds to register and process the words he had just heard. “Wait what?” he questioned immediately moving his head up a million miles per hour to find Jaime’s eyes to see if he was serious.

There they were. Jaime’s gorgeous hazel eyes, they were wide with anticipation and had a few happy tears welled in them.

Bart could tell looking into Jaime’s eyes he wasn’t joking. He was being serious.

“Are you sure?” Bart asked tilted his head like a confused Labrador.

Jaime melted at the sight as it was adorable. “Yes of course I’m sure!” Jaime said trying to keep it together whilst laughing at Bart’s question.

“But I thought you were dating Cassie?” Bart questioned really confused at this point.

“What? God no! I mean no offence to her! What the hell have you that idea?” Jaime replied with complete shock.

“I may have… Sort of… Kind of read your phone and then went to see for myself after hearing some rumors about it.” Bart tapped his fingers together now that the guilt was finally catching up to him for his actions. Jaime wasn’t even the slightest bit mad because he knew Bart hadn’t been himself during that time. Plus he was too happy to be mad!

“What? No! I met up with Cassie to get advice on where I could take YOU for our first date!” Jaime said in his happy to explain voice. “I mean, that’s if you were to even say yes! Which I didn’t even think you would!” Then he connected the dots. “Oh. You were depressed because you thought I was with Cassie! Gee Bart! I can’t believe you got so worked up over me.” Jaime now frowned a bit and looked down at the ground feeling guilty.

Bart caught on to what he was thinking. “Yes I did. But that wasn’t your fault! It was mine. I shouldn’t have read your text! And I certainly shouldn’t have believed the team’s gossip!” Bart stated knowing all too well how frequently false gossip or at least in this case misinterpreted gossip could spread. “I have wanted to tell you for the longest time. And when I thought you were taken, my dreams were crushed. Don’t you be underestimating how crash you are Jaime!” Bart warned.

Jaime looked back up at him again now still with a slight look of sadness. Seeing he wasn’t fully alleviated of guilt Bart continued, “You are the most crash person I know! Of course I lost my sanity when I thought I’d lost you forever. You’re worth it. And if I had to go through it all over again to hear you say that you have feelings for me I would.”

“I still can’t believe you said- that you- had feelings for me?” Bart staggered with pauses in between struggling to say it as if it were a fact now and not something he had dreamed of hearing for years. He laughed a bit to try and release some of the shock energy. Jaime could still tell Bart was having trouble believing it. I mean Jaime had been in shock when Bart had confessed his feelings but Bart was definitely in more shock.

“Yes I do carino.” Jaime softly said before pulling him into a warm embrace, Bart started to cry a little bit (happy tears). This was the first time Jaime had ever hugged Bart coming from a place of more than just friendship. Jaime pulled away when he noticed Bart was crying begging, “Bart please don’t cry! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you”.

“No no no!” Bart quickly said before assuring Jaime by adding, “I’ve just wanted this for so long and I never thought you’d be interested in a guy like me! I’m just so happy. This is all so crash!”

Jaime smiled and Bart smiled back at him. Bart had stopped crying now and Jaime wiped away the tears on his face.

Jaime was nervous to take the first step so he placed his hand on the back of his neck and Bart admired how cute nervous Jaime was before he shyly started, “Bart. Would it be alright if I ki-mfph” Bart didn’t let him finish and had moved faster than he ever had before to meet Jaime’s lips with his own.

They both felt that electricity that wasn’t unfamiliar to either of them flow through their bodies. Bart brought his hands up to hold the back of Jaime’s head and Jaime moved his arms on to Bart’s back. They pulled away to look at each other. Bart was blushing and Jaime blushed looking at Bart blushing.

“This is the best day of my life…” Bart stated with utter bewilderment.

“Allow me to make it better…” Jaime said alluringly before leaning in to kiss Bart again. Jaime slid his tongue into Bart’s mouth and explored Bart’s mouth with Bart’s tongue who greeted Jaime’s. There was so much passion in the kiss that both of them felt like they were melting into each other. They kissed back and forth fighting for dominance as if to say “I love you more!”, followed by the other retaliating to only shout it back louder and so on so on. Until it got so intense they both pulled back for a breath. They were both still sitting up at this point on the bed. Jaime was glad that Khaji Da hadn’t ruined the moment. He planned to thank him for remaining silent later.

Jaime’s head was spinning because he wasn’t expecting Bart to be a better kisser than him. “You’re a really good kisser Bart.” Jaime said blushing bright red and chuckling.

“Thanks! Well I have had a lot of time to imagine myself kissing you.” Bart confessed his cheeks now redder than Jaime’s were.

“Really?”

“I’ve had feelings for you for years. I never imagined in a million years you’d feel the same way.”

Jaime felt a bit sad, he could tell just how shocked Bart was that someone could be that surprised to find out that someone could love them for who they are. Especially when Bart was such a loyal and amazing friend. Friend. Jaime faltered on that thought. He grinned and looked at Bart, he knew how much Bart would love hearing what he was about to say, “So Bart? Can I call you my boyfriend?”

Bart’s eyes lit up and they had never seemed so bright before. “Yes! Can I call you mine?” Bart stammered nervously which was ridiculous that he had any doubt over what Jaime’s answer would be.

“Why of course, my boyfriend.” Jaime said his grin growing even bigger saying it for the first time. Bart felt like melting into a puddle.

“Crash! I never thought I’d have a boyfriend! But now I have a boyfriend! And it’s Jaime! Jaime Reyes is my boyfriend!” Bart practically vibrated before flipping down on his back because he felt so overjoyed.

Khaji Da now spoke for the first time to point out to Jaime that Bart did indeed have low self worth as was made clear by his extreme difficulty processing and accepting Jaime’s feelings for him in the first place. Jaime was actually grateful for this warning from Khaji Da.

He loved Bart, and wanted to make sure he took care of him. After all that was his job as a friend, but now even more so as his boyfriend. Jaime vowed to spend every day they were together trying to make Bart feel as loved as Bart had made him feel all these years. Bart had never given up on him, not when he was on mode, never. He took a lot of anger from literally everyone except for Bart after his “betrayal”. Bart gave his life for Jaime. Bart was always there for Jaime when he needed him. And Jaime was going to make sure Bart felt the same way, he knew it would take time, but he was going to get Bart there if it was the last thing he did.

He laid back on the bed beside Bart and turned his head to face him. He started talking to reassure Bart of his feelings, to make a start on that vow he had just made, “I definitely have feelings for you Bart. I can’t stop thinking about you. Khaji Da even suggested I even seek therapy as he believed I had an extremely unhealthy obsession with you.” They both laughed. Bart turned to make eye contact with Jaime now as he continued, “I miss you seconds after you’re gone. I just always want to be with you!”

Bart started to blush deep red again. Jaime noticed and then started poking fun at how cute it was.

“God you’re so cute when you blush!” Jaime swooned.

“Stop it!” giggled Bart before whining, “You’re making it worse!”

But Jaime wasn’t done yet. “You’re so crash and kind and caring and just such an amazing person.”

Bart was blushing so hard that his cheeks matched the same color of red his old costume used to be. But he wasn’t trying to stop Jaime anymore, it was nice hearing these things as Bart wasn’t used to receiving compliments. And he could tell Jaime genuinely meant every word.

It was Jaime’s turn to blush after adding one last compliment, “Oh and you’re kind of really hot too!” Jaime chuckled and started wrapping his hands around one another nervously, “Your hair, your eyes, your smile, those abs, your tight uniform that I may or may not have had a few dreams about…”

Bart starting to get embarrassed quickly leant over and shut Jaime up by kissing him and Jaime knew what he was doing and chuckled relentlessly into the kiss.

“Ok! Ok! I get it aha! You think I’m amazing, you don’t need to keep complimenting me but thank you for saying as much as you did, it made me feel… special”. Bart paused before biting his tongue between his teeth lightly, knowing he’d blush mercilessly at what he was about to say, “And uhh… if it makes you feel better, I had dreams about your dreamy body too.”

Bart retreated his tongue and bit his lip playfully and Jaime couldn’t help but pounce on Bart for another kiss being turned on by Bart’s confession. It turned into a really hot making out session. They both wondered afterwards how they were going to keep their hands off of each other during missions. Neither of them were brave enough to ask about the next big step for them but both figured it could wait a while. For now they wanted to just enjoy being happy. Live in the moment.


	8. Chapter 8

Bart and Jaime decided to announce their relationship to Bart’s family first. It made sense when Bart had told Jaime he had already told his grandmother who was entirely supportive of the relationship from the beginning. Jaime was surprised to hear this but smiled welcoming the news when Bart told him. They walked down to the kitchen holding hands where Iris was preparing dinner. When she turned and noticed, her face lit up before she unburdened her excitement with a single question, “Does this mean-”

“Yes grandma.” Bart chuckled to himself and she ran over to Bart to hug him and then hug Jaime.

“I’m so happy to hear you guys finally got together! I’ve been waiting for this forever!” she said letting some of her impatience from the long wait drip into her tone.

“Grandma!” Bart flushed beginning to get embarrassed.

She laughed. “Well Jaime! You must join us for dinner! I want to hear all about you and Bart!” she said beaming.

She leant over to Bart and whispered, “You’ve really out done yourself”, before winking at Bart knowing full well what his reaction would be.

“Grandma!”

Jaime smirked acknowledging to both of them he had heard. But he began to blush too. Iris laughed. “Go on you two love birds go take a seat at the table! Wait till I’m there though before you tell Barry!” she asked.

Bart wiped a hand over his face stretching it out to wipe the utter embarrassment off his face. Jaime now let go of his hand to keep it a surprise for Barry, Joan and Jay.

Soon everybody was at the table and they were all eating. “So Bart, did you want to tell us all about how you’ve been bitten by the love bug?” Iris asked completely innocently.

“What?!?” Barry curiously questioned a tad too loudly.

Bart’s eyes shot open and he started to choke on his food. He put his fist up to his mouth whilst he fought for control of his throat again managing to swallow the food he hadn’t fully chewed before accidentally inhaling. Before he said anything he reached over to grab a glass of water and chug it whilst looking at Jaime who was sniggering.

“Umm…” Bart started. “I have a boyfriend now!”

He took this time to shoot a glare at Iris for nearly killing him with her witty comment. She just smiled back at Bart.

“It’s about time!” Barry said laughing with a touch of sternness in there to show he was serious as well.

Bart was surprised that Barry wasn’t well, also surprised. Bart knew Barry was very relaxed about that sort of thing but he wasn’t sure if it applied to himself or only other people. Apparently it did include him.

“Who’s the lucky fella?” Barry questioned who had now stopped eating because he was on the edge of his seat genuinely curious to hear more.

“It’s me!” Jaime beamed proudly which caught everyone by surprise. Bart included.

“That’s awesome! I know we don’t know each other that well Jaime but I’ve heard only good things about you. I look forward to getting to know you know that you’re family!” he stood up to shake Jaime’s hand. Jaime eagerly obliged and enjoyed getting Barry’s approval as Jaime actually had mad respect for the bloke.

Bart blushed a bit at the family comment thinking it was a little too early to be dropping that word, not that he had any fears of Jaime and him not lasting or anything, he just didn’t want Jaime to be scared off. Jaime sat back down before putting his arm around Bart’s shoulder.

Jay and Joan hadn’t yet ventured their opinions. Bart looked towards them waiting for them to speak. Joan broke their silence first, “I think you’ve done well Bart. Jaime seems like a very intelligent, handsome young man.” She said smiling towards Jaime. Jaime blushed and then thanked her. Jay chimed in saying, “I’m happy for you Bart” before finger gunning at him. It was short but it was genuine. Bart finally breathed a sigh of relief now having the entire family’s approval.

The rest of the family turned to look at Iris as she hadn’t yet spoken since Bart and Jaime had come clean. “I already knew!” She proudly beamed. Nobody was surprised. “Didn’t any of you pick up on my joke before? Bitten by the love bug?”

The whole table burst into laughter and the rest of night pretty much stayed that way. The Allen’s welcomed Jaime with open arms and he felt really good about it. Jaime hoped introducing Bart to his family as his boyfriend would go as smoothly. But he knew it wouldn’t be quite as golden.

The very next night they decided to tell Jaime’s family. Bart came over dressed really nicely which was a first given he usually came over in casual wear to the Reyes household. When Jaime opened the door, he saw Bart had made an effort to get dressed up. He thought Bart looked really sexy wearing a pressed shirt. He quickly stepped out onto the porch to give an unexpected Bart a kiss while no one could see him doing so. Bart had no complaints except that it didn’t last long enough. Jaime dragged Bart inside and took him to the dinner table.

They both sat down and waited for Bianca to summon the rest of the family to join. Jaime was getting very nervous now. But Bart was sitting right next to him, which gave him the strength to say what he needed to say. “Ma, Pa, I have something I want to tell you.”

“Of course mijo! Tell us!” Bianca stated unsure of where this was going.

“Bart and I are together!”

“Really?” Bianca said happily, “Oh mijo I’m so happy for you. She got up and jogged around the table to put and arm around both of them and kiss Jaime on his head.

"I always did want you to two to get together” she started when she had returned to her seat, “Bart”, she turned to face him and only him now, “When Jaime’s around you, he is the happiest I’ve ever seen him. Thank you for making my baby happy!” she started to tear up.

“Ma!” Jaime pleaded with both embarrassment but also concern in his voice.

Bart now got up and walked around to give her a hug. She leant into it and thanked Bart again. Bart smiled looked at Jaime and said, “It was my pleasure!” before laughing a bit.

After watching Bart console his wife, Alberto’s frown disappeared. Everyone then realized he hadn’t said anything yet and all turned to look at him. “Jaime. I’ll never understand it. What you’re doing. But I am going to try my best to support you… And Bart. Because he does seem to make you happy and that’s all your mother and I want for you”.

He looked down at the table awaiting a response. “Thanks Pa” Jaime softly said. He was disappointed his father didn’t entirely agree with the whole guy dating a guy thing but he was really happy that his father at least said he was going to try to surpass his homophobia, because that’s really all Jaime could ask for from him.

Bianca was proud Alberto had been as mature as he had been about it, she placed a hand on his shoulder as if to say “Thank you for not running this for Jaime.”

Alberto swallowed now looking at Bart knowing how difficult this would be for him, “If I had to choose… a… guy… for Jaime… it would be you.”

“Thanks Mr. Reyes” Bart replied understanding how difficult that must have been for him.

“Wait a second? Are Bart and Jaime dating?” Milagro chimed in with her innocent voice.

Everybody laughed at how slow she had been to catch on. Even Alberto laughed. They all appreciated the comedic timing and welcomed the distraction. The rest of the night went rather smoothly.

Jaime and Bart returned back to Bart’s house to spend the night together as they didn’t want Alberto to feel any more strained about their relationship and didn’t want to test the waters by asking if Bart could spend the night under his roof. They didn’t mind anyway because Bart had a bigger bed than Jaime did. They fell asleep in each other’s arms after comparing notes and concluding they were both really happy with the outcome from both of their families. Now there was only one more group of people to tell. The team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! I am planning on writing more though some day hopefully. Might be worth subscribing? If you did read all this way I can't thank you enough! Means a lot to me! As always feel free to leave comments!


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